


A Fresh Start

by Lathya



Series: Grown With Care [2]
Category: Ed Edd n Eddy
Genre: KevEdd - Freeform, M/M, Pining, Slow Burn, episodic, post-picture show, the slowest of burns
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2020-07-25
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:01:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 22,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25202857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lathya/pseuds/Lathya
Summary: Starting after the events of Ed, Edd, N Eddy's Big Picture Show, the culvasac spend the summer getting to know the Ed's better as they assimilate into the group. Jonny (The Gourd) keeps trying to get in the way. Eddy feels a little unsure about the new dynamic. And Edd and Kevin become very good friends.
Relationships: Edd "Double D"/Kevin, Eddy/Nazz (Ed Edd n Eddy)
Series: Grown With Care [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1805044
Comments: 16
Kudos: 81





	1. Working Together

Eddy's brother was a jerk. Before this summer started there would have been some debate on the subject between the culvasac kids, but now they were in agreement. Even Eddy. After watching Eddy's big brother bully Eddy, someone who had run across the state to find him when he felt he needed saving, all the kids sympathized with him. And it was also pretty cool how Eddy had stood up to him, and the collective work of the Ed's taught that bully a lesson.

Sure, the culvasac kids were pissed at he Ed's after their latest scam gone wrong, but after a whole day and night chasing them and having witnessed the scene with Eddy's lame-o brother, they were willing to forgive them. Heck, maybe they were pretty cool after all. It also helped that Eddy, usually the one driving the annoying crazy bus that was the Ed's, seemed honestly remorseful for being a jerk in the past. Without having to say anything the kids all decided to give the Eds a chance and finally bring them in as friends.

Now it was just a matter of getting home.

The kids had already spent a whole day and night away from home. It was the start of summer so most parents could likely be willing to forgive that much if the kids had a decent enough story to forgive, but two nights out were definitely going to get at least a few kids grounded and they had to get themselves home much faster. They had a few advantages this time though. The first was that they didn't know where they were going when they left and there was a lot of zig-zagging around until they all found each other, this time they were all traveling together and had the same goal. The second is that they had the Ed's this time so when everyone started to worry about how they were going to get back home quickly the three of them came together with practiced ease to sort out a solution.

“We'll just take the bus that Jonny brought,” Eddy announced as if it was the most logical answer. Never mind that the bus was crashed into the wall and didn't seem like it was going anywhere any time soon. But before the other kids had a chance to voice their objection, Eddy had already ordered Ed to pick up the bus and sent Edd to work fixing it. Seeing the Ed's get so quickly to work encouraged the rest of the kids to give it a shot so they shrugged and offered their help. All except for Jonny, or Captain Melonhead as he liked to be called while in costume, who remained tied up and left to the side for now so he wouldn't cause any trouble.

“What can we do, Eddy?” Nazz asked leaning into his ear, which caused Eddy to stutter over himself. Luckily Edd came to the rescue.

“We'll need a few parts to finish the repairs. I can give you a list if you all are willing to help locate what we require.” And with that Edd listed off what the kids should look out for. Luckily, Eddy's brother seemed to live next to the junk-yard area of the Mondo A Go-Go Amusement Park. They would need rubber for the tires, specific types and shapes of metal, and a series of other bits and pieces. “We will need to be on the lookout for some tools as well, I unfortunately don't have a toolkit with me.”

“I can help with that.” Kevin chimed in and pulled out a screwdriver, an adjustable wrench, a hammer, and a pair of pliers.

“Splendid. Then Kevin, can you help me remove some of the damaged components while the rest of you find those materials. We'll all be home before dinner.” Ed assisted Kevin and Edd with the heavy lifting, oftentimes holding the bus up while the other two worked at detaching the broken pieces from underneath. Eddy meanwhile ran off with the rest of the kids to help look for the materials that Edd asked for.

As kids started coming back with materials Edd would inspect them, sometimes asking if they would be able to find something “a bit more suitable” when they would bring back something very different from what he asked. 

“I don't know how we're going to fix this cracked cylinder,” Kevin said, looking under the hood.

“We're going to have to weld it. It'll be a patch job, but it should be sufficient to suit our requirement.”

“How are we going to weld it? I didn't exactly pack a blow torch in my back pocket?”

“Why we'll make one of course. I already have the others looking for the parts we need.”

“Choice. Can I do the welding.”

“Of course, Kevin.” 

It wasn't too long before the bus was repaired and all the kids were now on the bus. Eddy ran to take control of the driver's seat, but when Kevin pointed out that his dad actually took him driving a few times (in an empty parking lot, but that still counts) it was decided that he would drive. Edd, of course, assisting from the seat behind him since he knew what all the controls did.

When Kevin went to turn the wheel to get going, Eddy chimed in.

“Hey, home's the other way!”

“No it's not dork, we came from this way.”

“Then you took a weird way getting here. We came from that way!”

“Gentlemen, please.” Edd interrupted.

“Double Dee will tell ya, shovel-chin, you're going the wrong way.”

“Actually, you are both incorrect. Kevin, you need to drive straight ahead through here. We apparently all took rather round-about ways of arriving here, but the quickest route home is that way.” Both easily conceding that Edd knows best, accepted this, and stopped their argument. Edd now also acting as navigator so that, true to Edd's promise the kids all arrived home before dinner.

Arriving back at the culvasac, the kid's joy from finally being back home was quickly squashed by first, the debris of the Ed's last scam still littered over the neighborhood which started to remind everyone of why they were angry in the first place, and secondly, the parents of everyone coming out of their houses to call their kids in for dinner and chastise them for being out all night.

Edd, being the only one without parents at home that evening was the last to head inside, but the gears in his head started turning quickly. After dinner, he made his way over to Ed's and then took him to Eddy to go over his idea.

By morning they were complete.

After breakfast the kids all woke up and came out into the neighborhood, surprised to find that all the debris had been cleaned up. They found the Ed's all passed out in the yard next to the last few bags of trash. Thankful, the kids left the Ed's to doze as they set out with their usual play for the day. When they finally woke up everyone came running over.

“Good morning, Ed-boys.” Rolf was the first to greet them.

“I can't believe you guys cleaned up that whole mess overnight. That is so cool.” Nazz complimented. Kevin even came over with a Jawbreaker for each of them.

“I did promise after all.” The rest of the kids all praise the Ed's for their hard-work overnight and invite them into their games for the day. 

Every except, of course, Jonny who was still bitter at the Ed's for what they had done. Because he missed the altercation with Eddy's big brother, he didn't understand why the rest of the kids were suddenly being nice to the Ed's and forgiving them so easily. The damage from the failed scam, all of that chasing them the last two days, the fear on the bus while being surrounded by all those strangers, and then getting sent to bed without dessert yesterday. All of it because of them. Jonny rode off with plank by himself while he plotted how he would get back at them.


	2. Sprinkler Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Ed's get invited to Nazz's annual sprikler party and are determined not to mess things up again.

Nazz was setting up for her annual sprinkler party. She hoped this one would be her best one yet. It was the last summer before most of the kids in the culvasac started high school. Plus everything seemed different now since the Ed's were getting along better with everyone. 

As per tradition, Kevin came over early and helped her set up. This was the first time in a while since they would be alone together, and Nazz had something very important to speak with him about. Something she had been thinking about ever since that crazy trip trying to track down the Ed's a few days ago and she wanted to finally get things straight.

After carrying out the table, Nazz stopped Kevin before he started bringing out the refreshments. 

“Hey, Kev. Do you mind if we talk?”

“Sure Nazz, what's up?”

“Do-do you like me?” Kevin flinched and hesitated before he answered.

“Uh, yeah, of course.”

“Do you though? I mean, the last while whenever I try to get your attention you always get distracted or you're more interested in something else, like your bike.” Her voice dipped a bit near the end.

“Oh, sorry I guess.” Nazz raised her eyebrow and Kevin knew she expected more of an answer. “I mean, we've always been friends so of course, I like you.”

“But do you LIKE me.”

“Like I said we've always been friends. You're a girl, I'm a guy. Isn't that just how it works?”

“No Kevin, it's not.”

“Oh.” Kevin looks down dejected.

“I mean, we can still always be friends. I like having you as a friend. I just get the feeling we're not going to be anything else, but that's okay, really.” This seems to bring Kevin back around and he smiles.

“Yeah cool. So, uh, we going to bring these snacks out then.”

“Definitely.”

The Ed's were on their way over to Nazz's house. It was her annual sprinkler party and this time they were invited. And they were in their own swimsuits this time. Edd almost had a panic attack thinking of what happened last year: The tight swimsuits snapping off, handing all day and night in the swimming pool as it chilled to icy temperatures in the night, walking home clutching the sides of the kiddie pool with Eddy and Ed surrounding him on either side. No, that could not be allowed to happen again. All three of the Eds promised each other that they would never EVER have a repeat of that day.

When the three of them arrived the rest of the neighborhood kids, save Jonny and Plank, were already there and they greeted them. They actually said hi to the Ed's and were happy about it. Their faces lit up. It was still taking some getting used to, but it seemed like they all really were friends now. Eddy went in schmoozing and at least attempted to have a conversation with Nazz. Really she did most of the talking while he tried not to melt into a puddle next to her. Ed ran towards the sprinkler and joined Jimmy and Sarah as they chased the water as it moved back and forth. Edd wandered quietly towards the refreshment table where he ended up joining Rolf and Kevin in a conversation concerning Rolf's latest project, building a new chicken coop. Edd was just getting comfortable at the party when Nazz, with a nervous-looking Eddy, walked up to the group.

“Hey, Eddy said he and the Eds are going to do a trick for us!” Edd froze. Ed overheard from the sprinkler and tripped over himself.

“Choice. What kind of trick?”

“Rolf would like to see this trick!” Edd and Ed rushed over to Eddy.

“Eddy no!” Ed cried.

“You promised, Eddy!” Edd shook him as he spoke.

“It slipped out! I'm sorry!”

“What wrong Eddy?” Nazz asked, seeing the three boys begin to panic. “You're not nervous are you?”

“What, no of course not. Just confirming some, uh, logistics is all.” He then turned back to the other two. “Come on guys, we can do this! Please!” He begged on his knees, gave his best puppy dog eyes, and finally the pair relented. 

“If anything goes wrong it's on you, Eddy,” Edd warned as he and Ed made their way over to the sprinkler. Eddy climbed up on the fence and got everyone's attention. He jumped. He flipped. He cartwheeled. The other two caught him with ease as he flew through the sprinkler just as the water was coming up to meet him and they posed in a standing triangle. Their hearts panicked by the end, worried they would be met with ridicule, that something had to have gone wrong. But there was no unwanted breeze in their lower regions, so that was a good sign. 

Then they heard the applause. The kids were cheering for their stunt. 

“That was so cool, guys.” Nazz complemented as Eddy brought himself back down to solid earth.

Eddy and Ed relished the attention from the others as Edd slid off to the side. It was only after he breathed a sigh of relief that everything went well that he noticed he was standing just on the other side of a tree that Kevin was standing next to.

“Nice trick, Double Dee.”

“I didn't do much. It was all Eddy. I'm just glad nothing went horribly wrong this time.”

“Huh?” Edd slammed a hand over his mouth. He did not mean to say that out loud.

“Oh, nothing.” He started to turn a bit red in the face and Kevin could tell he was obviously hiding something. He was really nervous before they did the trick too, Kevin thought as he eyed the nervous boy.

“It's definitely not. Come on you can tell me. I promise I won't say nothing.”

“Technically that means you will say something.”

“I will not say ANYTHING. I promise.”

“Are you certain?”

“Of course.”

“Really?”

“Yes! Do you really think I'd lie?”

“Well, you have gone back on your word with the three of us in the past. Especially when it offers you the opportunity to make fun of Eddy” 

“Oh, yeah. Sorry dude. But everything's different now, right? For real this time.” Kevin makes a show of putting one hand over his heart and holds another up palm forward, “I, Kevin, do solemnly swear that I will not tell anyone what you tell me for as long as I live.”

“Well, you seem sincere so I guess I can tell you since you promise you absolutely won't tell a soul.” 

“I promise” 

“For any reason.” 

“For any reason.”

And then Edd relents and tells him. Once he starts talking he just lets it all out. Every embarrassing detail. Kevin wants to laugh, it is pretty hilarious, but he sees how nervous Edd is just talking about it so he holds his tongue. 

“Wow. That is pretty horrible. Can't believe we missed that!”

“Well, you all seemed pretty intent on giving us the cold shoulder.” Kevin was starting to feel bad for all the crap he put the Ed's though. “Not that we didn't deserve it mind you. Looking back many of our actions were less than cordial.”

“Yeah, well, I guess I didn't have to be so hard on your guys all the time.” The two made their way over to the refreshment table as they chatted and Edd poured himself a cup of punch. As soon as the drink touched his lips he let out a scream.

“What is that!?!” He fanned at his tongue as he felt heat rise up in his head. It burned! Kevin stepped back in shock. Everyone looked over in surprise.

“I didn't think it was that bad.” Kevin helped make the punch so he was a little insulted, but when he looked closer at the punch bowl and noticed it was a lot thicker than he remembered. And a different color too. Curious he poked his finger in and took a taste. “Hot sauce? What dork put hot sauce in the punch?” It was then that the group of kids heard a maniacal laughter from the trees above them. Looking up they say Jonny and Plank standing on a low branch. Jonny wore a large orange gourd on his head, Plank had a black face-mask.

“Was that you Jonny, not cool.” Nazz scolded.

“Come down here so I can pound ya!” Kevin shook his fist as he yelled.

“What's your problem, melonhead?” Eddy shouted.

“I am Captain Melonhead no longer! I am The Gourd with my sinister side-kick Timber The Dark Shard. We have suffered the greatest injustice: Betrayal! And we will have our revenge!” And with that, he ran off.

“What a dork,” Kevin muttered as he and the rest of the kids went back to what they were doing, only when Kevin looked back he noticed Edd was missing. For a moment he was worried, did that dork do something to him? But then he saw Edd walking out of Nazz's back door with a half-drunk glass of milk. “There you are.” Kevin jogged over.

“Sorry for running off. I hope Nazz won't mind I helped myself to a glass of milk. I just couldn't stand the heat from that hot sauce. Did I miss anything?”

“Just Jonny acting like a dork. I guess we'll have to get some new punch.”

“Don't worry about it, Kevin.” Nazz approached from behind him. “It's getting a bit chilly out so we're moving the party inside.” 

The kids all made their way inside, changed out of the swimsuits and into their comfortable day clothes while they all crowded around the t.v. in the living room. Nazz had everyone carry out piles of snacks and drinks and as they filled the table they sat themselves on the chairs and around the floor in a tight cluster. Ed sat on the floor beside his sister. Eddy sat on the love seat, hoping he would get to sit next to Nazz and urged Edd to take the last seat on the couch on the corner next to Kevin.

Nazz pulled out a selection of movies she had picked out for the night and let everyone chose what they would watch first. Ed saw she had Zombie's From The Black Lagoon and voiced his enthusiasm very loudly. 

“Alright, alright, big guy.” Nazz turned to the rest of the group, “Any objections?” Everyone easily agreed to Ed's choice and Nazz went to put in the movie before sitting next to a very happy Eddy.

“You sure, Jimmy?”

“I'm not afraid Sarah.” Jimmy held a brave pose for a moment until Sarah looked away and then shook a little as he hid behind her. Ed leaned forward, laying on his belly with his head in his hands, a big smile spread across his face.

As the movie went on Jimmy only got more scared and excused himself to the bathroom. He has not yet returned. Sarah has moved to lay next to her brother as they make jokes about how silly the victims act. Eddy attempts to put his arm around Nazz but keeps getting scared off every time she jumps at something on the screen, which is a lot. Rolf keeps yelling at the screen as if the people can hear him and won't get killed if only they heeded his advice. Even Kevin jumped at a few of the scares, but mostly just laughed at the cheesy animation and over the top gore, but he was surprised to notice that Edd barely jumped at all and was actually laughing lightly throughout the movie.

"I didn't think you'd be into this sort of movie." Kevin leaned towards Edd, whispering during a tense scene where the lead girl was definitely about to find her boyfriend turned Zombie in the abandoned shed.

"I suppose I've been used to the genre since Ed is such a big fan. It's not so scary when you know how impossible something like this actually happening is.” Edd leaned a bit closer, “Ah, but don't tell Ed I said that. I fear it will only upset him." 

"Yeah, sure thing."

After the horror movie, they watched a comedy, this got Jimmy (who was definitely not scared) back out of the bathroom and then a swords and dragons adventure story. After that, it was getting a bit late so everyone started to settle in for the night. The Ed's huddled together with a quick cheer for themselves as this would be their first sleep-over with everyone. 

Ed and Jimmy got a bit distracted getting ready as they played a game of knight and dragon where Ed let Jimmy defeat him in an epic battle. This gave everyone a good laugh, but soon they all had their sleeping bags out and were getting ready to sleep. Edd, knowing he wouldn't want to miss out on this important bonding moment with the rest of the culvasac, did everything he could to ensure he would have a restful night sleeping on Nazz's floor instead of his own bed. He rolled out one blanket, and then another on top, and then his sleeping bag on top of that on what he found was the cleanest space on the floor, just near the arm of the chair where he was sitting. Eddy and Ed then plopped themselves next to him in front of the couch. Just as Edd was getting comfortable he noticed that Kevin had taken the spot on the couch so his head was resting just above him, Rolf slept opposite Kevin with his head already hanging off the side of the couch as he snored loudly.

Edd blushed lightly and pulled his face under his covers as he tried not to look up at Kevin. It had been quite some time since Edd first really /noticed/ Kevin and while he was determined to never act on that, it's not as if those feelings just went away. Reflecting on the last few days though, and knowing that he was going to be able to become even better friends with Kevin, he couldn't help but smile. I'm just going to have to get used to it, he thought as he pulled his eyes away and tried to get to sleep.


	3. Reminicing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The kids poke around through Edd's inventions from last year.

“What's taking Double Dee so long anyway?” Kevin asked as he idled on his bike. He and the rest of the culvasac kids were sitting out together in front of Nazz's yard. Her house had become the default hang out spot for everyone where they would just chill for a bit between whatever they had planned for the day. Only today no one had any plan for what to do. The summer was still early and they had already gotten bored of pretty much everything they had planned.

“He's gotta make sure he gets all his chores done. His parents leave him, like, a hundred sticky notes of random tasks.” Eddy answered for Kevin. The two of them were starting to get along a bit better. They still argued from time to time, and when it came to any kind of competition they were super competitive with each other, but the pure hated and animosity they seemed to have for each other was quickly fading. “We could always mess with his sticky notes, give him a few more devious tasks. He'll do anything if it's on a sticky note.”

“But Eddy, we did that last year.” Ed chimed in from his spot laying on the ground.

“Argh, yeah.”

“Oh, I know, how about dodgeball?” Kevin offered as he rode in a small circle. 

“No!” Ed shot up from his spot of the ground and grabbed onto Eddy. “Tell him no, Eddy! No dodgeball!”

“What you're not scared of a little dodgeball, are you?” Kevin teased.

“NO DODGEBALL” Ed shouts. 

“Seriously, don't let sockhead hear you say that!” Eddy chastised, this caused Kevin to pause. It doesn't surprise him that Edd isn't a big fan of dodgeball, but Eddy and Ed's reaction seemed a bit much.

“I'd rather not play dodgeball either, Kevin. It's scary.” Jimmy chimes in and the group goes back to pondering new ideas for what they could do. Kevin leans over to Eddy.

“What does Double Dee have against dodgeball? He really hates it that much?” Eddy flinched at the question. He thought back to, just a few short weeks ago when they were still on their way to find Eddy's big brother. They had stopped for the night and shared secrets around a campfire. Edd was very clear that he didn't want anyone else to know what happened, so Eddy scrambled to come up with a decent answer that wouldn't get Kevin trying to poke asking questions he shouldn't. Eddy especially didn't want Kevin to go asking Edd himself and bring up bad memories.

“Double Dee's, uh, just such a nerd you know. Nerds hate dodgeball, it's like, in their DNA or somethin.'” Kevin raised an eyebrow at Eddy, but then shrugged and left it alone. Eddy turned to Ed, “Hey, lumpy, let's go see what's taking Double Dee.”

“Hey, Eddy, we'll come with you,” Nazz announced at the crowd of kids made their way over to Edd's house. They found him organizing in the garage and he was slightly startled by the crowd approaching.

“Hey, sockhead, what's taking ya?”

“Oh, Eddy, I was just organizing some of our old projects. You know I like to have everything cleaned up before summer begins to make room for all the new inventions and designs we'll create over the summer. Although, I suppose since we're not doing scams anymore I won't have to worry about cataloging them.” The thought surprised Eddy. He hadn't really thought about that. Building all those big projects was how Ed, Edd, and Eddy always spent their summers. It was the core of their friendship. Now that the scams were over, what did that mean for them?

“Look, Sarah, it's the raft from the cruise. It was so relaxing.” Jimmy gushed over the deflated and beaten raft that Edd had stored away on a bottom shelf of his inventions closet.

“Yeah, right until the Kankers decided to play pirates.” Eddy grumbled. Rolf picked up a roll of blueprints for Edtropolis.

“Aw, curse the place of the endless lines. This was not your best work Ed-boys.”

“I don't know Rolf, that one was actually pretty cool,” Kevin commented before his attention was pulled to a swamp creature costume. “What was this thing for?” Edd came up behind him to answer.

“That was from the Spooky Sewer Ride. You, Rolf, and Jonny were away go-carting that day so we had to scrap the idea and come up with something the girls, and Jimmy would enjoy.” Noticing Kevin's gaze drift to the corner of the garage.

“And what was that supposed to be?”

“A giant paper mache t-Rex. We were going to make it so you could walk up the inside and look out from the top, like a pre-historic lady liberty.”

“Choice. You guys actually had some pretty cool ideas. Too bad you guys were always trying to scam us with them.”

“Yes, well, I supposed they will just be fond memories now.” The group of kids took their time poking around all the leftovers of the Ed's past scams and spent the bulk of the afternoon reminiscing over the highs and lows (mostly lows) of each of them. Edd enjoyed describing, in great detail, how he was able to construct the most difficult inventions and Ed got a few laughs out of reenacting now they all inevitably failed. Eddy tried to enjoy the memories, but worry built up in him as he watched his best friends laughing with the rest of the kids, each one sitting apart from him.


	4. Making A Movie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ed decides to make a monster movie and all the kids get involved.

Ed had built up a crude-looking city out of cereal boxes and sponges. With his feet, he held two action figures who he role-played a scene with a monster attacking a police officer. In his hands, he held a video camera as he tried to capture the scene.

Sarah and Jimmy peeked around the corner to see what he was up to.

“Ed, what are you doing?” Sarah asked as the pair came up quietly behind Ed.

“Oh, hello baby sister. I am making a movie. The police officer is trying to save the innocent civilians from the man-eating sewer monster. He is not going to make it.”

“A movie! Can I be in it?” Sarah rushed in front of the camera.

“I wanna play the dashing hero!” Jimmy exclaimed as he moved beside Sarah. Ed seemed to think this over and after a moment of staring down the two sets of puppy-dog eyes, he answered with a nod.

“Yay!” The two cheered, getting the attention of Nazz who was in her backyard, skimming through some magazines in the shade of the tree. Nazz peeked over the fence to see Sarah and Jimmy cheering as they danced around a happy looking Ed.

“Hey, guys, what's up?” 

“Ed's making a movie and we're going to be in it!” Sarah answered.

“We're going to be stars!” There were stars in Jimmy's eyes.

“That sounds like fun. Hey Ed, can I be in your movie too?” Ed gave another long thoughtful pause before nodding and giving a thumbs up to Nazz.

“Cool. Can we invite the others as well.”

“OK!” Ed shouted as he ran towards the center of the culvasac with the other three following closely behind. “CASTING CALL!” He shouted, getting the rest of the kid's attention. When everyone was gathered he announced that he was making a monster movie which everyone was immediately interested in. 

“Jimmy is the hero who traps the monster and saves everyone. Nazz will be the heroine that the monster kidnaps, but she'll escape and find the hero. Sarah is the hero's friend who dies tragically to save him.”

“ED! I wanna sing!” 

“And she's also a singer.” This makes Sarah smile. 

“I'll be the director, Ed!” Eddy interrupts. “You can't have a movie without a director.”

“Ok, Eddy. Rolf, you can be the wise old man who tells the hero how to trap the monster.”

“I know many ways to trap a beast Ed-boy! I will lend my wisdom to your cause.”

“The police officer who fights the monster to save the innocent civilians will be played by,” he gave a thoughtful gaze over Kevin and Edd as if the choice wasn't already obvious to everyone, “Kevin!”

“Choice.”

“And Double Dee, you can...”

“Might I assist with the behind the scenes elements?”

“You can be the monster!”

“Oh, dear.”

A while later, Sarah is singing her solo while Jimmy sits in an audience of cardboard cut-outs and Rolf's farm animals dressed up like people. Edd is standing on a ladder while holding the strings to a giant puppet monster, Eddy's idea. There was no way Edd was going to be a convincing monster on his own. Eddy even jumped in to supply the loud shriek of the creature as it attacked.

Kevin stood near Edd, helping to maneuver the monster from the side, which let Eddy go back to his director's chair.

“Too bad you died so early, Kevin, but I do appreciate the help. This puppet is quite heavy.” 

“No problem. It was a cool death.” Kevin licks some of the strawberry sauce “blood” on his cheek as he reminisced over his epic action scene where he dove at the creature with his baton and beat it halfway to defeat before the creature ate his insides, splashing blood and guts everywhere.

Jonny and Plank, dressed in their villain costumes and none to happy to see the Eds and the rest of the kids acting all buddy-buddy again, watched from the other side of his fence as they plotted their next attack. They would sabotage the movie by knocking over the ladder where Edd stood, this would destroy the monster costume and cause a domino effect that would topple the actors and then Ed and Eddy who stood behind the camera. 

Eddy called “Cut!” and moved over to Sarah to give her a few pointers, some she wasn't too happy to hear, but Eddy insisted were necessary. As he talked, Jonny decided now would be the perfect time to attack. Eddy was standing right where Edd would fall with the monster, making his sabotage even better.

“Down with the Ed's” he cried as he charged towards the ladder. Most of the kid's attention was on Eddy and Sarah's “discussion” so they didn't notice, but Edd and Kevin turned just in time to watch the monster, who Edd had pulled with him as he looked around, bulldozed right into Jonny, knocking him across the pavement.

“Jonny! Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.” Edd is frazzled and worried as he makes his way down the ladder and over to Jonny. “Are you okay? Do you require medical assistance? I'm so sorry!” Kevin comes in behind Edd to see Jonny on the ground. Jonny's face clenches in anger, his plan was ruined and now he was receiving pity from his enemy. In a rage, Jonny lifted Plank and took a swing at Edd. Kevin saw him move and pulled Edd back just in time to not get his head bashed in. 

For a moment Edd was held against Kevin. He froze. He could feel his face turn red. And then Kevin let go.

“Get back here, dork!” Kevin shouted as he chased after Jonny. Edd fell back and just lay on the ground, still stuck in that moment. “Hey, you okay?” Kevin was back. Jonny had scurried off up a tree where Kevin couldn't chase him anymore.

“Kevin!” Edd sat up. “Yes, fine, no problem! We should return to the movie.” And Edd jogged off back to the monster costume. Eddy and Sarah were just finishing up with the scene in a way that made everyone happy and Kevin helped Edd get the ladder and monster set back up just in time for their cue.

“And cut! That's a wrap!” Eddy bellowed from his director's chair.

“Oh boy! Let's go watch it, Eddy!” Ed said excitedly as he took the tape out from the camera.

“Why Ed, don't you think we should edit it first?” Edd asked.

“But, Double Dee, I can't wait, I want to watch it now!”

“No problem, big guy, we can watch it at my house.” Nazz offered, leading the way for the gang to follow her.

Everyone quickly files in to, what is quickly becoming, their default sitting arrangement. Ed on the floor with Sarah and Jimmy, Eddy, and Nazz on the love seat, then Edd, Kevin, and Rolf on the longer couch.

When Kevin fell into his seat he stretched his arms out behind him on the couch. Edd stops himself from leaning back and contemplates his situation. He could just lean back. He always leans back. Any accidental touching would be totally on Kevin because he's the one who put his arm there. But Edd was more than certain that if he were to lean back he would probably melt. Then he would say or so something that would reveal his rather stubborn attraction to Kevin. They had only been friends for a few weeks, he would be risking everything, probably even the other Ed's good graces with the rest of the kids, just for leaning back in the chair.

No, Edd though, I'll just sit forward. This is fine.

Edd spent most of the movie like that Until he realized, while Kevin was laughing at his own death scene, that he had pulled his arm back. He then discreetly leaning back into his usual position and enjoyed the movie with his friends.

Everyone was laughing up a storm by the end of the movie, their bad acting easily apparent. Edd thought that if he had been able to edit it then he could have made them look less amateur, but he kept his comment to himself. They were all proud of what they had made, even if they weren't good at it, especially Ed. He had come up with a great idea and saw it through to completion, all the others complimented him on his great story and camera skills.

Between all the laughter and praise no one noticed right away that the movie was still playing.

“Hello, Big Bro!” Eddy's voice comes from the TV

“Hey, what's this?” Nazz asks as the kids all turn their attention back to the movie. Eddy stands in front of his garage with a fake mustache on. The Eds all instantly recognize it as the home movie they tried to make to show Edd's big brother how cool he was. Panic rose up in each of the Eds and, from their individual seats, threw themselves at the TV in perfect synchronicity.

“NO!” They shouted together as they landed in a pile. Eddy rushed forward and tried to turn it off as Nazz and Kevin pulled him back.

“Oh no you don't, Eddy.” Nazz teased. “I wanna see this.”

“Yeah, this looks great.” Kevin laughed. The Eds covered their eyes as their past selves ran wild on screen. “Oh man, harsh.” Edd heard Kevin whisper as he watched when he gave Eddy a killer wedgie. Slowly he and Ed opened their eyes and looked on. When the TV Edd sarcastically told Eddy that his brother would be “very impressed” Kevin chuckled. 

They eventually eased up and laughed along with the rest of the kids. It was pretty funny after all.

“Look, Jimmy! It's us!” Sarah points at the screen as she and Jimmy approach the playground. While TV Edd tries to get Sarah and Jimmy to stand how he wants them to, Sarah jokes to Edd, “Good thing you weren't on camera today, huh?”

“Har har” Edd responds with a small smile.

Everyone screams when TV Ed swallows the camera.

“Was that a tire, Ed-boy?”

“What were you eating?” Kevin asks as he tries not to gag. Ed just laughs.

“I can't wait to see that part of the movie,” TV Ed says.

“Let's not and say we did,” responds TV Eddy.

“Oops, too late.” Nazz jokes with a chuckle. She glances over at Eddy and realizes he's looking away from the movie with an embarrassed look on his face. She nudges him in the side gently. 

“You've changed a lot since then, huh?” Eddy looks up at her.

“Haha, yeah.” He looks at himself on the screen. Naive, desperate, and a real jerk. Nazz laughs as she watches old Eddy say that she's his girlfriend. 

“Girlfriend, huh.” Eddy chuckles a bit, matching Nazz.

“Stupid, I know.” She gives him a thoughtful look.

“Maybe not that stupid.” Eddy looks at her shocked and confused, but she's looked back at the TV.

“Sometimes it's fun to look back and see an old you and know that you got past all the things you grew out of.” Eddy thought about that. Everyone wasn't making fun of him, not really. They were just laughing at an old Eddy, someone who didn't exist anymore. Eddy found himself smiling for real and laughing along. He really was such a goof.


	5. A Good Team

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kevin's daredevil jump goes bad and Edd is there to help.

Kevin got Edd's help with the design and construction, they spent all morning working on it, and now he was poised and ready with his bike to ride over the best daredevil jump he had ever seen.

The rest of the kids from the culvasac stood off to the side cheering him on as he put on his helmet. Originally he wasn't going to wear one, it clashed with his style, but Edd had insisted and only agreed to help with the ramp if Kevin promised he would wear one, and the knee pads, and the elbow pads. Kevin was afraid Edd was going to put him in a bubble at one point, but thankfully he settled on just the standard bike safety gear.

During the whole building process, Edd had kept having moments where he would walk away for a few moments before coming back like nothing had happened. It first happened when Kevin accidentally backed into Edd. He just said, “excuse me for a moment, Kevin,” walked around to the side of the house and then came back and continued with what he was doing. Little things like that seemed to happen more and more recently. Kevin thought it was weird, but he didn't say anything. Edd was always a bit odd, but it was just part of who he was so he didn't question it. Either way, Kevin was really enjoying his time with Edd.

He usually spent most of his free time hanging out with Nazz or Rolf, but hanging out with Edd was just better. Nazz was cool, but she wasn't really into a lot of the same things and after the whole awkward almost dating thing with her things just felt weird. She said everything was fine, and she wasn't the type of person who would hold that kind of thing against anyone, but it still left Kevin a little uncomfortable, at least for now. Rolf was fun, but he was always busy with his farm chores. Plus Kevin had no idea what he was going on about half the time.

With Edd, everything was just easier. Kevin could talk to him about his bike, and they could build things together. Even when Edd didn't know about something Kevin liked he was always willing to learn about it. Sure he was dork, but that wasn't always a bad thing.

Now he sat poised at the top. Edd gave him a nervous thumbs up from where he stood by the others and Kevin returned it with a nod. He could do this.

He pedaled out and kept pedaling as he went down the steep decline of the ramp so he would gain as much speed as possible. Then kept pedaling as he started the ascent. He eyed the jump as he approached. In a second he was flying high, a smile spread across his face. He landed the jump, he let out a cheer as the tires hit the ground and he could hear the cheers of the crowd.

Then he wobbled. It was just the tiniest little bump, but he was going so fast that he quickly lost control and tumbled straight over onto the pavement. 

His head was spinning. By the time his vision cleared Edd was standing above him with a first aid kit on hand. Of course, he had a first aid kit, he was always prepared after all.

Edd carefully helps Kevin lay down flat on the ground while he quickly tends to his injuries. Thankfully, Kevin had agreed to wear the safety equipment and the tumble looked worse than it was. Other than some minor cuts and scares, as well as a bit of dizziness, Kevin didn't appear to have any other injuries.

The rest of the group crowded around to see if he was okay just as Kevin started to come out of his dizziness.

“I made the jump,” he said as he raised his fist to the air in victory. He then wobbled and fell backwards. Edd leaned over him and held up two fingers.

“Kevin, how many fingers do you see?” Kevin started to shake off the dizziness, he squinted and had to focus a little longer than Edd would have liked, but he answered correctly before finally sitting up steady. 

Just as Edd was getting the alcohol and cotton swabs ready to clean Kevin's scratches he felt a bump behind him. Looking up he saw Rolf standing over him in order to see how Kevin was. The rest of the kids all stood around closely, inspecting the injury.

“Excuse me, Rolf, but could you back up? You're in my personal space.” Eddy, not really concerned since Edd seemed to be on the case got everyone's attention.

“Okay everyone, nothing to see here. Double Dee's got this, they don't need a peanut gallery. Buzz off.” Eddy steered the crowd away, allowing Edd to tend to Kevin's injuries without interruption. It was only after they were gone that Edd realized that being alone with Kevin was probably a really bad idea.

Being able to spend all this time with Kevin has made it harder and harder for Edd to suppress his feelings for the red-head. Every time he felt any kind of feelings he had to walk away to put himself back together. Edd was nowhere near ready to come out to the culvasac kids about being bisexual, and he certainly wasn't ready to deal with whatever consequences might come from letting Kevin know he had a crush on him. It was imperative that he keep himself together. He couldn't just walk away, not while Kevin was injured.

“This might sting,” Edd said as he applied the alcohol dampened cotton to an injury on Kevin's leg. He kept his focus on his work and tried to ignore Kevin's eyes watching him work. It didn't take long for him to finish and he was thankful for that. “Good as new,” Edd announced as he finished. Kevin smiled before turning his attention away.

“Wish I could say the same for my bike.” Kevin's bike sat off to the side, the tires were bent out of shape, the chain snapped, and it was littered with dents and scratches. Kevin got up, picked up his bike, and uselessly tried to get on it which only caused it to fully fall to pieces. “This is going to take a while to fix. Hey,” he turned to Edd, “you mind helping me with this?”

“Of course not, Kevin, I'd be glad to help.” Curse my endless altruism, Edd thought but helped Kevin pick up the pieces of his bike and bring them to his garage anyway.

Working most of the day, the pair managed to get the bike back to running order. Kevin kept spare parts nearby just in case, nothing was too good for his beautiful bike so almost all his allowance money went towards maintaining and improving it.

Edd struggled a bit as he tried to tighten the bolt holding the back tire.

“Here, let me get that.” Kevin leaned over and tightened it with ease.

“Thanks, Kevin. I usually prefer working with power tools.”

“You just need a bit more elbow grease, Double D. Those little twig arms aren't going to screw the bolts tight enough.” Edd gave Kevin a deadpan look, which just made the other boy laugh. “It's fine. Thanks for helping me, though. Would have taken most of tomorrow if I had to do it all by myself.”

“No problem, Kevin. What are friends for if not to help one another?”

“Yeah, sorry I took up your whole day though. I guess I owe you one.”

“Nonsense. It was a pleasure.”

“You know you're really fun to hang out with. Too bad we never really hung out before, huh?”

“C'est la vie, I guess.”

“Huh?”

“As is life.”

“Yeah, I guess. Hey-”

“Kevin, dinner!” Kevin heard his mom call from the front door.

“Be right there,” he called back. “Guess it's time to go.”

“Go enjoy your dinner, Kevin. I'll see you tomorrow.” Edd makes his way back across the culvasac towards his house as Kevin heads inside. He looks back briefly, wondering what Kevin was going to say, but then catches sight of Eddy and Ed walking along the sidewalk. No doubt getting ready to go home themselves to have dinner with their families. Edd had some chicken defrosted in the fridge that he was planning on making for dinner, maybe with some pasta or rice, but either way, he'd be eating alone. Again.

When Edd joined up with his friends, Eddy leaned in close with a playful elbow to Edd's side.

“So, how'd ya like spending the whole day with Kevin~!” The way Eddy said Kevin's name left Edd flabbergasted and speechless. Eddy laughed. “Come on Edd, you've been giving Kevin extra-googly eyes for weeks now. Ya gotta give us some details.”

“I don't know what you are insinuating, Eddy. Kevin and I are merely friends. I enjoy his company just as much as yours or Ed's.”

“Except you want to smooch him.”

“Sm-sma-smoo-SMOOCH!” Edd's face went bright red, he could feel it practically burning his skin. He pulled his beanie down to hide.

“Oh no, Eddy! You made Double Dee mad!” Ed tentatively moved closer to Double Dee, “He didn't mean it, Double Dee, honest.” Edd lifted his beanie up just over his eyes, hands stilling clinging to the sides.

“I'm not angry,” Edd said quietly.

“He's just embarrassed, lumpy,” Eddy said with a wave of his hand. “Embarrassed that, unlike me, he can't get a date.” Edd's pink-tinted cheeks faded as a doubtful look crossed his face.

“You got a date? With who?”

“With Nazz, of course.”

“And when exactly are you going on this so-called 'date.'” His fingers air quoting the word date.

“This Saturday. We're going shopping together.” Realization dawned on Edd as he remembered the conversation.

“That's not a date. You only offered to help her pick out some new clothes.”

“Is so a date! You're just jealous.” Edd was about to retort when Eddy cut him off. “But, hey, it's fine. You can just ask Kevin out, we'll make it a double.” Edd's face lit up red again as Eddy ran off towards home, not giving Edd a chance to argue. Ed still stood next to Edd on the sidewalk.

“Am I going to need a date to?” He asked cautiously.

“No, Ed, you don't need a date.”


	6. Carving Out A Place

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The culvasac kids all get cell phones, well, all except Eddy who is starting to feel left out and tries to do something about it.

Eddy ran straight over to Edd's house after breakfast. It had been too long since just the three of them did anything together so he decided to pull his two best friends away to the junk-yard, where they always ended up spending most of their time, and just hang out for the day. Even if all they do is read comics and talk nonsense while sitting in the back of that old abandoned van.

He waited at Edd's door, usually, he would have answered by now. Eddy went to open the door, he must not have heard him knocking, probably doing chores, but the door was locked. Edd didn't say anything about going anywhere today. Maybe he was already over at Ed's house, he thought. Eddy turned to make his way over when he caught sight of all the kids in Kevin's driveway. He was passing out jawbreakers and nobody told him!

“Hey, what gives?” Eddy shouted as he ran over to the group, stopping next to Edd as Kevin helped him pack up a few jawbreakers into a box.

“Oh, there you are Eddy, what took you so long? I was worried you would miss out.” Edd commented.

“There's a few left, dude, go grab some,” Kevin added.

“Was no one going to tell me!” Eddy ran into the garage and grabbed the last two jawbreakers just before Rolf returned for another trip.

“Didn't you get Kevin's text, Eddy?”

“Text?” Edd held up his new cell phone with Kevin's text open. “I don't have a cell phone!”

“Oh, sorry dude.” Kevin apologized as he closed the garage door. “I thought I had everyone's number.” Everyone except Jonny, of course. Kevin had just about enough of him and his crap the last few weeks.

“Well, not mine!” Eddy paused. “Everyone?”

“Yes, Eddy, everyone's got a new cell phone. Most of us are joining high school next year, after all.” Edd's eyes started to light up. “I new level of education paired with the new responsibility of phone ownership. Isn't it wonderful!” Kevin let out a small chuckle as Edd gushed.

“Not wonderful! What if I don't get a cell phone.” Eddy grabbed onto Edd as he panicked.

“Now, Eddy, that's nothing to fret over. I promise we won't forget to include you in the future. And I'm sure you're parents will get you one eventually.”

“Eventually!” Eddy looked out over the rest of the kids, each of them had their phone out and were giggling to each other as they showed off whatever was on their screens. He heard a buzz come from Edd's pocket, who gave him a bashful look before pulling it out and checking the message.

Edd's phone was one of the fancy new models, Eddy remembered seeing commercials for it. Kevin's was some expensive-looking one too, so was Nazz's. Ed's looked like some kiddy phone, probably with controlled calling on it so Ed couldn't call anyone his parents didn't authorize. Sarah's wasn't super fancy, but it was bright pink and she loved it. Jimmy's had some big sparkly purple case on it so it was hard to tell what kind of phone it even was. Rolf's was a basic flip phone, but it looked durable.

Eddy would give just for a cheap discount phone. He stood off to the side as he watched Edd chatting with Kevin and Nazz while Edd ran off to play with Sarah and Jimmy.

Was he really going to be left behind like this? His two best friends didn't even think to come get him when he didn't show up. Everyone moving on and growing up with their fancy new technology while he gets left to play around in the junkyard by himself? 

Heck no, he thought to himself. Everyone only wants to hang out with sockhead and lumpy and just leave me out of everything. At least when we were doing scams it was the three of us together. Now it's like they're not even my friends. 

Eddy got a bad idea. And he smirked as he ran off to go brainstorm.

A few hours later, Eddy had managed to find Edd on his own and asked him to meet him at the junkyard later, and not to bring anyone else. Except, of course, for Ed who Eddy pulled aside later to give the same message.

When the two came to meet with Eddy at the junkyard they found him standing in front of a massive sign that read “EDDY'S ROCKIN ROLLERCOASTER.” They shared a look as they approached their shorter friend.

“Greetings, Eddy.”

“Hi, Eddy!”

“'Bout time you two showed up! Come on, we've got work to do.”

“Yes, Eddy. I assume we are to build a rollercoaster then?”

“Oh boy, I love rollercoasters.”

“That's what the sign says, doesn't it?”

“Eddy,” Edd said nervously as he kept his eyes on the sign, “is this a scam?” Eddy froze. He promised he was going to give them up and if he admitted it now then his friends might just leave and then he'd really be alone.

“No, it's not a scam, of course not! It's totally free, not even going to charge them. It's, uh, it's a present! Yeah, just something I thought might be fun is all.” Edd gave his friend a careful look and then smiled.

“Oh Eddy, I'm so proud! This will be great fun for everyone. We'll have to make sure this is our best work yet.” And so the three of them got to work.

Just as Eddy loaded Ed up with a bunch of supplies to bring over to Edd, he saw Sarah and Jimmy come around the corner.

“Hurry up, lumpy.” He pushed his larger friend ahead so he wouldn't see them and ran to intercept the younger pair. 

“Eddy, have you seen my brother?”

“Nope. Haven't seen him since this morning. Did you check the sewer?”

“T-the sewer?” Jimmy stuttered.

“Why would Ed be in the sewer?”

“He said something about gator catching earlier, isn't that where you find gators?” Sarah and Jimmy shared a confused look before shrugging. 

“If you see him tell him we're looking for him. We want Ed to play Princess Tea Party with is.”

“Uh, yeah, sure, I'll tell him.”

A little while later Kevin came around looking for Edd and Eddy intercepted him as he did with Sarah and Jimmy.

“My dad's letting me work on this old engine and I wanted to see if Double Dee wanted it. Seems like something he'd like.”

“Yeah, sorry Kevin. Double Dee's, uh, giving spiders their booster shots.”

“B-b-booster shots?” Eddy remembered Kevin's phobia of needles and used it to his advantage to get him to go away. 

“He's probably in the woods around the construction site if you wanna go find him.”

“Nah, that's fine, I'll just find him later. Bye, dude.” And Kevin ran off.

For the next few hours, as he and his friends worked on building the giant rollercoaster, he kept everyone else away with various lies until everyone had come by at least once. Just as Eddy had gotten Rolf to leave, he was looking for Ed to help on the farm again, Edd approached him from behind.

“Was that Rolf?”

“Huh, no, you must be seeing things. How's the rollercoaster coming?”

“It's coming along quite nicely, Eddy. However, I have a question.”

“Yeah? Spill.” Edd pulled out his cell phone.

“Why does Kevin think I'm giving vaccinations to arachnids?” Eddy's face fell. He forgot about the cell phones! “Not even getting into the chemistry involved in creating vaccinations for them or the kinds of diseases most arachnids get that I could possibly even begin to create, how would I even accomplish this? I don't think I have a needle small enough to stick into the arm of an arachnid without causing, oh dear, quite grievous harm.”

“I, uh,” Eddy tried to change the topic, “Hey, lumpy, how's those seats coming.” Ed was dropping seats pulled out of cars into a car for the rollercoaster that Edd put together for the ride.

“Eddy!” Edd put his hands on his hips as he attempted to scold his friend. He knew something was up, Eddy had been acting weird all day. He kept looking over his shoulder and darting around randomly. Now he's apparently been lying to their friends and he was going to get to the bottom of it.

“Come now, Eddy. You can't just ignore me.”

“Tell me about it.”

“Eddy!”

“What?”

“Why have you been lying to our friends all day.”

“Because,” he spoke slowly as he tried to figure out his sentence, “it's supposed to be a, uh, surprise! Yeah! Can't surprise them if they know about it, can you.”

“I suppose that makes sense, but why didn't you tell us the rollercoaster was supposed to be a surprise form the beginning?”

“Uh oh. It was a surprise, Eddy? I told Sarah and Jimmy already.” Ed looked embarrassed when he confessed.

“How'd you tell 'em? They left hours ago!”

“They sent me a text message, Eddy, but I told them you wanted to spend time with Double Dee and me. I can play with them later.” Eddy's eyes watered a little at the bigger boys' simple words. It really was that simple wasn't it. That's all he wanted, his friends to choose him.

“Double Dee,” Eddy turned to Edd, “I- I didn't lie to everyone because the rollercoaster was a surprise.”

“Is that so. And why did you lie.” Eddy mumbled his response. “What was that?” He mumbled again, a bit louder this time. “I didn't catch that.”

“I WANTED TO HANG OUT WITH YOU GUYS!” Eddy shouted.

“Oh, Eddy, all you had to do was ask. You didn't have to do all this.”

“But you guys were always hanging out with everyone else and I was getting left out and I wasn't sure if you even wanted to hang out with me anymore because you like them better than me and you won't ever want to be my friend again because I'm just a big dorky loser!” 

“Eddy, no!” Ed picked him up in a big bear hug from behind. “Eddy is our friend forever!” He had tears in his eye. Edd too held back tears as he gave Eddy a tight hug.

“We're always going to be your friend Eddy. We're sorry if we ever made you feel otherwise.” Once the friends were settled, and no longer crying, they released their hug.

“Maybe we could do something with just us three every once in a while.” Edd proposed. “I will admit, it has been nice today, like old times but without all the scam-related guilt.”

“Yeah, that'll be nice.”

“Oh! Movie marathon at my house!”

“Sorry I was such a dork, guys.”

“No, I'm sorry for neglecting you.”

“And I'm sorry for eating all the baloney I found in that tire.” Eddy and Edd gave him a concerned look before turning back to each other.

“You all were just having so much fun with everyone else and I just felt a little left out. I should have just talked to you sooner.”

“I didn't even realize. I thought you and Nazz were hanging out a lot more.”

“We were, sorta.” Edd raised an eyebrow.

“Didn't you go with her to the mall last weekend?”

“Yeah, but I just ended up holding her bags while she made friends with everyone else.” Eddy kicked the dirt.

“Nazz is very friendly, but I'm surprised she didn't try to include you more.”

“...”

“Eddy?”

“I guess she tried. I just kept freezing up you know. I mean, it's NAZZ!” Edd stifled a light chuckle.

“Yes, Edd, I know. Nazz is quite captivating, but you won't get anywhere if you keep letting yourself 'freeze up.'” Eddy gave Edd a look, and then a smirk.

“Is that right, lover-boy?”

“What!?!”

“I did notice that you don't freeze up around Kevin much. What's your secret?”

“Kevin and I are just really good friends. We found multiple things we have in common, which I'm sure you will find yourself once you get to know Nazz better.”

“Yeah yeah, so are we still building this rollercoaster, or what?” Edd sighed.

“Yes, Eddy, let us finish.”

Eddy had Edd send out a mass text to everyone, telling them to come to the junkyard and he was ready to greet them as they arrived. At first, they all looked nervously at the big sign, reminiscent of all their past scams.

“This isn't what I think it is, is it?” Kevin stares pointedly at Eddy.

“Not at all, Kevin,” Edd interjects. “Eddy merely wanted to treat the culvasac to a nice surprise. Unlike his past scams, this is completely free for everyone to enjoy. No tricks.”

Eddy hides behind a nervous grin as he excitedly invites everyone to hop on the ride. Since they didn't have to give up their quarters they were happy to give it a try and replaced their nervous stares with happy smiles. Eddy watched as they made their way to the car and began strapping themselves in. Edd gave Eddy a nudge on the side.

“Go on,” he said as he gestured to Nazz as she stepped into her seat. Eddy ran over to her.

“Allow me, madam.” He said with a bow. He then helped her get into the seat at the front of the car before sitting down beside her.

Ed ran to the back row and sat with Rolf, Sarah, and Jimmy in front of him. Kevin held back getting in the remaining empty seat as he saw Edd stand at the controls.

“You're not going to ride?”

“Someone has to man the controls, Kevin. I'm sure I'll get a turn later.”

“I can wait with you if you want.”

“Nonsense, Kevin. There is no reason to deprive yourself. Go enjoy the ride.” Kevin went on ahead and sat in the empty seat. Edd then came over and gave a brief safety instruction, or at least it was brief for him. Kevin was sure he could go on for days about all the safety precautions and hazards of rollercoasters, but he kept himself from rambling too much so that everyone could enjoy the ride he and the Ed's built.

After several loops around the rollercoaster, everyone getting multiple turns (including Edd when Eddy took over the controls for him), everyone started to head home since it was getting closer to dinner time. They walked together in a group. Just as they were all leaving the junkyard they heard a shattering series of crashes behind them.

The rollercoaster fell to pieces and from the center popped Jonny in his Gourd costume who cackled and then ran off.

“That dork is always ruining things,” Kevin complained before turning away.

“Jonny has been rather troublesome as of late.” Edd agreed before he joined the rest of the kids on their walk home.

“That was great!” Sarah cheered and she and Jimmy talked animatedly about each loop and how they screamed every time they hit the big drop in the middle.

“Great idea, Eddy.” Nazz complimented as she fell into step beside him. “It's a shame, Jonny broke it.”

“Gotta had it to you, Eddy, you do come up with some good ideas.” Kevin walked beside Edd, looking back over his shoulder at Eddy as he complimented him. He then turned to Edd, “Looks like your workmanship is getting a bit better, huh?”

“I just followed the pointers you gave me on the last few projects we worked on together.”

Everyone gave Eddy their appreciation for the ride as they went home.

“Can't wait to see what you come up with next time,” Nazz said as they all started to separate and go to their own houses. The thought stuck with him. Just because he was done with scams, doesn't mean he has to be done with coming up with fun things for everyone. He ran inside, eager to start brainstorming new ideas.

After dinner Eddy tried to rush off again, he was just starting to get the details for a tropical lazy river idea, when his dad held him back. Nervous that he was about to get in trouble for something, he was surprised when his dad held out a phone to him.

“It's my old one. Just don't break it.” Eddy smiled as he took it. It was kind of old and hand a few scuff-marks, but it was his. His very own phone!

Instead of heading upstairs to draw out the final details to his next project, he ran out to get all his friend's phone numbers. Now the next time he had an idea he could text them all himself.


	7. A Slight Obsession

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddy let's it slip that Edd keeps detailed files on everyone and they all want to see them.

The culvasac kids laughed in joy as they skated around EDDY'S SKATE PARK. The Ed's had built ramps, rails, jumps, and all types of fun places to skate. They even made skateboards, scooters, bikes, and roller-blades for everyone to try out. Those that had them, like Kevin who had his bike which he would never dream of leaving behind, took their own out to play.

Jimmy and Sarah spun around the surrounding pathway on their scooters. Ed attempted strange jumps on his skateboard that usually caused him to fly off into the bushes before getting back up and doing it again. Rolf attempted one piece of equipment after another with little luck before eventually rolling out a pig-drawn barrel chariot and just speed-running through the park. Eddy followed Nazz around, each of them on roller-blades. Nazz would do a few tricks and Eddy would crash as he tried to keep up as he was still a bit shaky on the skates, but Nazz seemed content to give him a few pointers and match his pace. Edd had originally brought out his old bike with training wheels still on it. 

“Safety first,” he insisted, but Kevin made him take them off.

“You're too old for that baby stuff, come on. You can ride it easy.” When Edd did take them off he promptly fell over onto his side, but Kevin helped him up and guided him in getting the hang of riding. Soon enough they were calmly riding around the pathway, with Kevin making the occasional detour through the center of the park to do a few jumps and tricks.

When Kevin and Edd were passing by the entryway to the park again, Kevin pulled off to the side.

“Hang on a sec,” he ran over to the line of bikes Edd had made for the kids to ride. Originally Kevin wasn't going to try one, but he had been eyeing the shiny red one for a while and couldn't resist any longer so he pulled it out.

“I thought you might like that one,” Edd commented as he watched Kevin.

“It's pretty rad,” he then gave Edd a sly look, “let's see if it's better than the last time you tried making a bike from scratch.” Edd rolled his eyes.

“As if I would have made those old ones as flimsy as I did if I had known they were going to actually be ridden. Eddy had insisted they would be for show only, so I didn't make them very durable.”

“Were you really surprised though?”

“I suppose not. I was a bit gullible at times, but is it really so bad to trust your friends?”

“No, and it's cool. I know you never meant any harm with anything, at least, now I do.”

“Thank you, Kevin. That means a lot.” Edd gave a wide smile, something Kevin had been noticing a lot. Kevin fidgeted with the handlebars on his bike for a moment before shaking off his thoughts and hopped up on the bike.

“Alright, let's see what this baby can do.” Kevin rode off towards the ramps again as Edd made for another lap around the path.

Just as Kevin goes for a jump, a large stick falls down in his path. He breaks hard and skids to a stop just in front of it. Suspicious he glares up into the trees, the branches are all too far away for it to have just fallen. A moment later he hears a crash.

Ed was riding his skateboard down the ramp for probably the 100th time, but instead of crashing into the bushes as per usual, something caught on his board and he crashed through the center of the wooded ramp, landed on the center railing in the trick course which caused a domino effect knocking down the other railings. This caused Nazz, who had been riding one of them to topple over and land on Eddy. As Ed got up, pulling his head out between two bars, he stepped backwards onto his skateboard and, with a loud yell, shot himself into the largest ramp which promptly fell over onto the border path. Edd, Sarah, and Jimmy all just barely managed to get out of the way in time.

Kevin heard the cackling coming out of the trees and say it was Jonny, again.

“That dork! He is so getting a pounding this time.” Jonny was quick and had so far been able to avoid the brunt of Kevin's rage. Kevin gave a quick glance around and made sure no one was hurt, but then gave chase on his new red bike.

“You okay, Eddy?” Nazz asked as she picked herself up and offered a hand to Eddy. Eddy took it with a smile.

“Yeah, of course.” Eddy looked around at his destroyed skate park and let out a large groan. “That's the third time this week that melon-head has wrecked everything! I hope Kevin gives him a pounding from me too.”

“Jonny's really been out of control recently. So not cool. But the park was fun though, Eddy. It's been ages since I've been able to really skate like that.”

“I knew you'd like it.”

“I don't think I've ever mentioned it.”

“Nah, I read about it in Double Dee's files, duh.” Eddy flinched after he said that. He should not have said that.

“Files? What files?”

“Files? Who said anything about files? I said, uh, FLIES, yeah, you know how Double Dee is with bugs and stuff.” Nazz raised her eyebrow at Eddy, he was definitely lying. She turned and saw Edd walking towards them, tip-toeing around debris on his way.

“Hey, Double Dee,” Nazz ran over to him.

“Watch your step, Nazz, you might get a splinter.”

“Eddy said something about a file you have on me, what's that about?” Her tone wasn't accusatory, only curious, but Edd froze and tripped over a piece of wood that was sticking out. Nazz ran to his side and helped him up.

“Files? What files?”

“That's what I said.” At this point, the rest of the gang had started to come towards the entryway and overheard Nazz asking about the files. Each of them started muttering to themselves and questioning Edd about what it was about.

“They're nothing, really,” he spoke fast, rambling as he hoped they would all just drop the subject. “Just something I put together to get to know everyone a little better is all. It was just so hard to communicate adequately with everyone so I just recorded a few of my observations in hopes it might help me find ways of starting a conversation. We really don't need to even speak of them.”

“Wait,” Sarah spoke. “You mean you have files on all of us?”

“Uh, well, technically, I suppose I do.” Edd gulped. He didn't like where this was going. “But there's nothing bad, just lists of likes and dislikes, phobias, relationships, personal hygiene...” Edd trailed off as he looked at the faces of everyone. He said too much.

“Well, I want to see them!” Sarah shouted.

“Me too,” Jimmy agreed.

“I would also like to see what the smart-Ed-boy has to say about Rolf's toe fungus.” Everyone gave Rolf a momentary side-eye and then marched off towards Edd's house, the Ed's quickly behind them.

The crowd marched up to Edd's room where they were sure he kept his files.

“Whoa, everything's like, crazy organized in here,” Nazz commented as she looked around the meticulously labeled room.

“There is the cabinet of files,” Rolf pointed to the filing cabinet beside Edd's desk and the kids all rushed it, pulling out all the files.

The red bike Edd built was well made and was fast enough that Kevin caught up to Jonny in order to finally give him the pounding he deserved. 

Doesn't he know how badly everyone could have gotten hurt, Kevin thought to himself as he remembered all the times Jonny's harmful pranks almost got Edd hurt, specifically. The rest of them could probably take a good hit, heck knows Ed could, but Double Dee could get, like, seriously hurt.

When Kevin made it back to the skate park, everyone was already gone. He rode back to the culvasac hoping to find them and when he didn't see anyone, he was about to ride off when he noticed Edd's front door laying open. 

Carefully he made his way in, knowing that Edd didn't like people in his house without him, but then he hard talking upstairs. Kevin raised an eyebrow, Edd didn't really like people in his room even if he was there.

“Please, everyone,” Kevin heard Edd pleading, “at least only read your own and- NOT THE PENCILS!” Rolf had bumped into the desk, causing a cup filled with perfectly sharpened pencils to fall to the floor where he accidentally stepped on them.

“What's going on?” Kevin asked as he entered. His appearance behind Edd startled the brunette who jumped at the sound of his voice.

“Kevin,” Nazz approached him with two files in her hands, “Double Dee's been keeping files on us,” there was a light laughter in her voice. Nazz was more amused than annoyed with all this. She handed Kevin one of the files, “this one's about you.”

“Me?” He started to flip through the file but glanced up around the room first. Jimmy and Sarah were poking around into everything in the room while the Ed's tried to keep after them. Rolf was sitting on Edd's desk which didn't look like it was going to handle the weight for very long. And Edd just looked horrified. He kept trying to corral everyone, but his quiet manners weren't working. After a few attempts at polite asking, Edd seemed to start to crack.

“Stop. Halt. Desist. Abstain. ENOUGH ALREADY!” He shouted and everyone froze in place to look at him.

“Hey guys, why don't we take this outside, it's kinda crowded in here.” Kevin got their attention and then turned and made his way back towards the entrance. Looking back briefly he could see the sigh of relief on Edd's face as the other kids followed him out.

Once outside, the kids all tore through their files, trying to see what kind of things Edd had to say about them. True to his words they really weren't all that interesting. While there were a few rather scathing comments about how some of them could wash their hands a bit better, none of it was written in a harmful way. If anything most of the kids were rather impressed that Edd knew them all so well. Even Ed and Eddy had pulled out their own files just to have a quick look.

After a while, Edd came downstairs from cleaning up his room and peeked out past the doorway to see the kids all sitting around his driveway going through their files. They didn't look angry. In fact, they were all smiling, with the occasional look of surprise passing over their faces.

Kevin flipped through the pages of his file. There were a few Polaroid pictures of him, he vaguely remembered last year Eddy had assaulted him with the flash on a camera, these must have been from then. Looking through the list of likes, he was surprised to see what Edd noticed. The list of sports was obvious, but Edd had also written in how he liked to do card tricks. Kevin didn't think he was very good, so he didn't show it off and was sure no one noticed. He smiled a little. Edd had also added to Kevin's file a few ways in which he might get over his fear of needles, and while he was sure he wouldn't try any of them any time soon, he liked that Edd thought enough of him to try to help. There were quite a few other things, Edd had noticed. Some of which Kevin had hoped no one had noticed, like how he was a bit self-conscience about his buzz cut that his dad made him get. He hated Kevin's old long hair and one day just sat him down and shaved it all off. He tried not to let it show, so he just wore his hat all the time. But if anyone was to know, he supposed it could be worse than Edd finding out. After all, he had a similar discomfort with, well, whatever was under his beanie.

Between reading different passages of the file, Kevin's eyes wandered to the doorway waiting for Edd to finally come back down. When he finally saw him he waved him over.

“I knew you were smart, Double Dee, but nothing gets passed you, huh?”

“You're not mad?”

“Nah, it's not like you were going around telling secrets. You were just being, what's the word, oB-ser-vAt-inal.”

“Obser-vey-tional, Kevin.” Kevin laughed.

“Yeah, that.” Edd sat silently next to Kevin as everyone flipped through their files, still a little worried they would come across something they found offensive. Edd was sure that his files were very scientific, he made sure to keep his own personal opinions on his discoveries, not in the files, but in his journal. Thank heavens they didn't find that Edd thought.

“Did you manage to track down Jonny,” Edd eventually asked as he noticed Kevin finishing up.

“Yeah, caught him nice and easy this time. Gave him a hell of a pounding, too.” Kevin punched his own open hand a few times for emphasis.

“Serves him right,” Eddy responded from where he sat beside Nazz, who was trying to get Eddy to show her his file, after all, he looked at hers.

“I do wish you all wouldn't resort to such violence, even if Jonny has been less than kind recently.” 

“Come on, he totally deserved it,” Kevin tried to convince Edd.

“I suppose, but I fear it will only make him more determined to cause trouble.”

“Then I'll just have to pound him again.”


	8. An Old Enemy Returns

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jonny has had enough and is looking to put an end to the Ed's once and for all, and for that, he needs to enlist the help of an enemy.

Jonny has had just about enough of the Ed's. Every one of his attempts at destroying them has failed. 

“Time to bring out the big guns,” he muttered to himself as he marched down the lane, pulling a red wagon packed with full garbage bags.

He wanted revenge for being made a fool of and for all the damage the Ed's had done to him. It all started with that first scam of the summer, they trashed the whole culvasac. Jonny could swear his head still hurt from the pain caused that day. Everyone was angry at the Ed's, they had finally gone too far. 

After the beating he took that day, Jonny ended up having a frightful time on the bus trying to get to the Ed's. He lost track of Plank for most of the trip while all the adults just stepped over him as he panicked. It was only after the bus finally parked at the depot that Jonny was able to crawl out from under the seat. He found Plank at the front of the bus and he had the driver's keys. Jonny stole the bus and tracked down the Ed's. But for some reason, when Jonny had finally arrived to give Ed's their final pounding all the other kids had turned traitor.

Once he got home he had hoped to just forget everything that ever happened but turns out his parents were home from their vacation that day. Jonny ended up getting grounded for damaging the house and running off all night, both of which were the Ed's fault.

But they didn't listen, they never listen. They just took away Jonny's TV and video games and comics and anything else he would have wanted and then they went on yet another vacation. He still hadn't got all of his stuff back.

Jonny came to a stop as he approached his destination: The Trailer Park.

He looked down at Plank, paused for a while to listen to what he heard the piece of wood say to him.

“I know, buddy, but it's all I've got left.” He paused again. “No, I can't let this go. It ends today.” Jonny walks down to The Kanker's trailer.

“Where should we put the souvenir photo, Lee?” May asked, sticking her head out of the front door to where Lee and Marie were hanging up their laundry. They had just returned from their extended vacation at Mondo A Go-Go where they had a great time staying with Eddy's big brother. Now they were cleaning out their suitcases and settling back in at home. 

“Put it next to the state fair photo. And put it in the pink frame. It'll look real classy with all that glitter.”

“Hey, who's that?” Marie pointed at Jonny as he approached.

“Looks like someone's coming to help us unpack, girls,” Lee announced.

“Sounds great,” May cheered, “I've been wanting to soak my feet. My dogs have been barking all day.” Marie ran ahead and grabbed hold of Jonny as he approached and threw him into the damp laundry basket. 

“Hang those up first.”

“Then you can put away the souvenirs,” May added.

“And put the suitcases away in the closet when you're done. Come on girls.” Lee leads the way inside.

“Wait!” Jonny called out, the girls stopping in the doorway. He jumped out of the laundry basket went to the wagon he brought with him. “I have a proposition for you. A trade.”

“Yeah, what kinda trade?” Lee asked. Jonny threw the three bags he had at the feet of The Kankers. When they opened them they found a bunch of fancy old dresses, shoes, bags, and costume jewelry. Jonny's parents were both hoarders and his parent's room and the attic were absolutely packed with their old junk. His mother would never even notice that the clothes and accessories were ever missing. “My, my girls. I do believe this boy is trying to butter us up.”

“I'm going to be the prettiest girl at the ball,” May gushed as she held up a pale pink dress with white ribbon.

“Not if I'm there.” Marie kicked her sister over as she went through her own bag.

“And what is it ya want for all this, kid?” Lee walked up to Jonny and stuck her face right against his. Jonny stuttered.

“I-I- I want you to take the Ed's.” The girls all stopped and smiled.

“Our boyfriends!” They cooed in unison. 

“You make sure the Ed's never come back to the culvasac and you can keep all the stuff in those bags.” Lee gave Jonny an impressed look before turning to her sisters.

“You know what this means girls?” The other two smiled at her. “We're gonna have a WEDDING!”

Eddy's latest idea was to build a space-ship ride. The inside of the ship was going to have all the lights and buttons of a real space-ship and it would go on a track around the junkyard where they would soar through the planets. Eddy just finished painting the outside of the ship and was making his way over to his friends.

“Ed, please. Aliens like this wouldn't even be able to stand on Jupiter, they'd fall right through the planet.”

“But, Double Dee, they are The Face-Eating Aliens From Jupiter, they have to go here.”

“Hurry up you two, we don't have all day.”

“Eddy, please, I am trying to make a scientifically accurate model of our solar system. Perfection can't be rushed.”

“Oh Eddy, come see my space-jaguars. They will eat your insides.” Edd lifted up the hollow sphere that was to be Pluto and reached out to grab at the wire to hold it. It fell out of his reach and he stretched out to try to grab it when he heard someone say, “here ya go” and the wire met his palm.

“Thank you,” he said as he set the former-planet in place. He took a satisfactory glance at his work and then looked over to see that Marie was standing there, her sister's beside her.

“K-K-KA-KANKERS!” he yelled, falling back off the ladder onto the ground. He scrambled to get his footing as the sisters laughed. When they saw him run off around the corner they gave chase.

“KANKERS!” Edd yelled again as he passed by the other two Eds, who looked back to see them in hot pursuit. They screamed as they followed Edd's lead and ran back towards the culvasac.

The other kids are hanging out in Nazz's yard while they wait for the Ed's to surprise them with their newest project. As per usual, they hadn't told them what they were going to be doing, but the kids were sure it was going to be awesome. For the moment Kevin rode around on his bike, practicing a few tricks while Nazz lay in the grass enjoying the sun. Jimmy and Sarah played a board game with each other and Rolf taught his new pig, Margret, a few tricks.

They heard a yell coming from down the lane.

“Hey it's them,” Nazz said excitedly as she sat up. Her expression turned from excitement to concern when she realized they were running from The Kankers. “Quick get the back yard,” she called out to everyone and waved to the Ed's to come her way.

Edd lagged behind the other two, unable to keep up the hard pace for much longer.

“Curse my short legs,” he muttered as she tripped over himself, Marie only a few short bounds away and ready to pounce. Just as Edd was about to succumb to his fate, he felt himself get picked up and pulled out of Marie's reach.

Looking out from behind his hands he saw that Kevin and rode out to save him.

“You saved me, Kevin!” Edd cried out as he wrapped his arms around him.

“You're not saved yet.” Kevin looked back to see The Kankers, angry, and not far behind. He rode straight into Nazz's backyard where she promptly closed and locked the fence.

The Kankers try to climb over the fence, but the kids have already grabbed their weapons. Armed with bats, rakes, shovels, and an angry pig, the kids swung at the invaders.

“Give us our boyfriends, ya little thieves!” Lee shouted, her fist raised in the air.

“Try and make us ya old hag,” Sarah yells back.

“Who ya calling and old hag, you twerp!” Sarah just growled back. For the moment it seemed that they were at least at a stalemate. The Kankers couldn't get into the backyard and that gave the others a chance to catch their breath and come up with a plan, but just as they started to let their guard down they heard a creak.

Jonny was in the yard and he had just opened the gate. The Kankers walked in.

“Jonny you dork! What the heck?” Kevin yelled, standing in front of Edd. The others also stood in front of the other Ed's, ready to help them fight against The Kankers.

“Finally payback for the injustice I suffered.”

“Jonny please,” Edd begged, “I'm sure we can come to some sort of understanding if we just talk this out.”

“No, I'm finally going to be rid of you Eds once and for all!”

“Eddy, come kiss your bride,” Lee taunted as she approached.

“Bride?” Eddy backed away more.

“Of course, Eddy, we're getting married today!”

“Here comes the bride, Double Dee,” Marie cooed as she approached.

“I want a shotgun wedding, Ed,” May smiled.

“M-MARRIED!?!” The Eds shouted. The Kankers pounced and the kids attacked with their makeshift weapons while the Eds did everything they could to stay out of their grasp.

Watching from the side Jonny laughed maniacally until he heard something and looked down at Plank. The black mask he wore had slipped off his face.

“What do you mean, Plank?” Jonny listened closely to his friend as he drowned out the shouting.

“I'm too young to get married!” Edd shouted as Kevin tried to pull him out of Marie's hold.

“Ah,” Edd shouted as he dodged yet another of May's pounces. Sarah biting at May's hands when she tried to grab her big brother. “I don't want to have all my dreams crushed yet!”

Lee knocked over Nazz and started carrying Eddy away, but was mowed over by Rolf and Margret. Nazz got up and pulled Eddy away from Lee while she was prone on the ground.

“Of course this is what I wanted!” Jonny argued with Plank. Lee had landed on the ground near him and gave him a curious look.

“Does this kid always talk to a piece of wood?” Jonny's expression softened as he looked into Plank's painted on eyes.

“You're right, buddy.” Jonny reached up and took the gourd off his head. “I was just projecting all my own back feelings onto the Eds. It's not all their fault, and they have been making amends. Now I'm the one who's being the jerk of the culvasac. Well no more!” He ripped off his cape and costume, dressed now in just his regular white shirt, jeans, and sandals. Just as Lee was going back at Eddy, with Margret raised above her head as Rolf cried out in anguish, Jonny tackled her from the side. “Back off you villain!” He aimed Plank like a weapon.

“What the heck, kid. You asked us to come here.”

“That was The Gourd and he is no more! Now back and away, I say!” Lee made to attack Jonny next, but he lunged forward and bit her.

“Lee!” Marie and May cried out for their sister as they saw her get attacked, they rushed to her side. Jonny leaned down on all fours like an animal and growled.

“I don't think he's got his shots, girls.”

“We need to get you tested for rabies.”

“Retreat!” The three sisters ran off, leaving a weary group of kids staring down the back of Jonny.

“And stay away ya old hags!” Sarah shouted after them.

“Yeah, don't come back!” Kevin added.

“Like we ever liked them anyway,” Marie said as they ran off.

“Yeah, who needs 'em,” Lee added as they left the culvasac. The kids cheered as The Kankers left. Edd approached Jonny, who stood quietly to the side looking down at Plank.

“Thank you, Jonny. That was very brave of you.” Jonny looked up with a small smile.

“Don't thank him. He's the reason those Kankers came after you guys in the first place.” Kevin marched over to stand between Jonny and Edd. “I should give him a pounding.”

“Kevin, I really don't think that's necessary. I'm sure Jonny is very sorry for any pain he caused, aren't you Jonny?” Jonny looked sheepishly up at Kevin and then at the others who all wore suspicious looks as they waited for his response.

“Gee, I'm really sorry guys, I don't know what came over me.” He looked down at Plank. “You snapped me out of it, didn't ya, buddy?” Edd gave Kevin a pleading look.

“Argh, fine, whatever. I won't pound ya. But don't do it again.” Kevin pointed his fingers at his eyes and then at Jonny before walking away. The others begrudgingly agreed to forgive Jonny and get back to their day. Edd invited Jonny to join them on the space ride.


	9. Getting The Band Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The culvasac kids bond over their experience with music and decide to start a band.

“Alright everybody,” Jimmy announces as he carried his xylophone to into the front yard, “be prepared to have your lives changed by the musical stylings of Sparkling Jimmy!” Jimmy wore a sequined covered Elvis-styled suit with massive sunglasses.

“Jeez, Jimmy, you're gonna blind someone with that outfit,” Eddy said as the group of kids approached.

“Watch it, Eddy!” Sarah scolded. “I like your outfit, Jimmy.”

“Are you going to put on a performance for us?” Edd queried as he approached. The crowd gathered around, everyone standing over Jimmy as he prepared to play, but the group of kids stood too close and he didn't like that everyone was standing above him while he was so much smaller and had to bend over slightly to play.

“No, no, this will not do! A musician requires a stage!” Knowing the Ed's talent for building things in a hurry. “You three will build me a stage!”

“We will, huh?” Eddy asked, “And why would we do that?”

“Oh, come now, Eddy. It wouldn't be much trouble.” Edd commented. “We've certainly built much more difficult projects.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” Edd turned to Ed and asked him to go grab as much lumber as he could carry and bring it back to them so they could get started while he went and grabbed a hammer and some nails. Eddy hung back while he waited for the other two, while he waited he overheard the others chatting about their own musical talents.

“Rolf plays a mean accordion, yes.”

“I've been playing the tuba for years, and Plank can play the banjo.”

“The tuba is so cool, I'm still learning. But I can play the violin. What about you, Kevin?”

“Drums.” Kevin mimicked hitting the drums as he answered. Sarah walked back to Jimmy after overhearing the conversation and hyped him up for his own performance. She couldn't play an instrument so she didn't want to get involved in their conversation. Meanwhile, the gears in Eddy's head were turning.

“Hey, why don't we turn this into a whole concert. Every one who can play an instrument gets a chance to perform,” Eddy knowing that Jimmy would have a sore spot about having to share the stage added, “and Jimmy can headline.” Jimmy's momentarily sour expression turned to excitement when he heard he'd get to headline. “I'll be the host of course and introduce all of you.”

“Yeah, that sounds cool, Eddy,” Nazz complimented. “Let's go get our stuff, guys.” Jonny and Rolf each ran off, but Kevin stayed back. 

“What, you got stage fright?” Eddy teased.

“No, it's just a pain carrying it all out. I'll just watch.” Kevin walked to the side where Ed and Edd were now gearing up to start building and helped Edd carry some of the wood he needed to build the support. Eddy ran off to pick out an outfit for hosting and grab some extra glam, like stage curtains and decorations for the stage.

It wasn't long until the stage was set and the performers were ready. Edd very sternly refused to play once he heard about the concert and Ed, excited to be a part of anything, ran to grab his saxophone. Each of the performers sat in the audience until it was there turn, although Jimmy insisted on having the grandest seat. The Ed's threw together a mock-box-seat for him in the back where he and Sarah sat.

Eddy jumps up on the stage and introduces the first act.

Rolf goes first and plays an energetic folk song on his accordion, including a rendition of That's My Horse which gets Ed overexcited while the other two Eds try to stay out of reach while he dances.

Jonny plays next, his tuba much larger than him. But despite his difficulty holding the instrument, his clumsy movements seem to get him to the correct notes in time and he manages to play some fun music. Plank stands at Jonny's side with a banjo propped in front of him and everyone pauses for a quiet moment while he plays his solo.

“What a riveting performance from Plank!” Eddy announces as he brings Nazz onto the stage. She plays her violin and serenades the audience with some lovely classical music, finishing with an almost perfect Flight Of The Bumblebee which leaves her arms tired.

Next is Ed who surprises everyone by playing some great music on his saxophone which gets everyone up and dancing.

Sarah pouts and tries to hide her jealously while she leans back in her chair watching her brother. Even he can play an instrument, she thought to herself. She remembered when his mom tried to get Ed to play the violin and he was so horrible at it, she hoped that she wasn't the only one who couldn't play anything but it seemed she was just the odd one out here.

Now it was Jimmy's turn, he made his grand entrance and had Eddy introduce him as Sparkling Jimmy. He played energetically on his xylophone and everyone gave him a round of applause at the end.

When the music was all over, everyone stood together on the stage chatting with each other about their favorite types of music, the absolute drag it is to practice all the time, but how cool it is to be able to play like this in front of everyone.

“This was so much fun, like, we should totally do it again,” Nazz said, which got Eddy's gears turning again.

“Hey, we should start a band!” Everyone promptly agreed, except for Sarah who stood off to the side trying not to let her bitterness start to show. “We can all play the same instruments, Kevin can play his drums, Edd's a beast on those plate steel drums of his, and I can be the lead singer.” Eddy finished talking with a pose.

“How you gonna be the lead singer without any lyrics, dork.” Kevin teased. Eddy paused searching for an answer.

“I can play the triangle.”

“The triangle? Really? You sure you can handle that?”

“You just watch me shovel-chin.”

“Eddy, could I possibly play any other instrument?”

“Why? You're already a pro on the plate steel drum!”

“Eddy, you know I detest playing that instrument.”

“But you're the best musician we're got, you gotta play it.”

“I am hardly the best musician here, Eddy.”

“No, you kinda are,” Kevin says plainly as the other kids all nod and agree while Edd bashfully looks away.

“Well, I suppose, if everyone insists.”

Everyone sets back up on the stage to play while Kevin and Edd go pull out their own instruments. As they are setting up on stage with the others, Jimmy notices Sarah standing off to the side. He was so wrapped up in the rush of performing he hadn't noticed her long face earlier.

“Sarah, come on, you simply must join us.”

“No, Jimmy, I'm okay.”

“Please, Sarah! This is our chance to be famous together. We'll have our names up in lights! Fans will love us!”

“I can't, Jimmy.”

“But why not.” Sarah was near to bursting, she didn't want to say it out loud, but Jimmy was her best friend and he was begging for her to join him.

“I can't play an instrument!” Sarah cried out, tears in her eyes. She got everyone's attention and the other kids shared a concerned look. They didn't want to leave anyone out of their fun, even Jonny had been welcomed back into everything after all he did, and Sarah had been very kind this summer.

“So, we just gotta find one you can play, easy-peasy,” Eddy said as he sauntered over towards her.

“What a wonderful idea, Eddy.” Edd cheered. "With all the instruments we have between us, we are sure to find something that Sarah would enjoy playing."

“You really think so, Double Dee?” She asked, her voice with an extra dose of sweetness as she spoke to Edd. Sarah had always had a bit of a crush on Edd, so she relished the opportunity to have him compliment her.

“Of course, Sarah,” an idea struck Edd, “why don't you give my instrument a try first, see if you like it. Here, I'll show you how it's done.” Edd pulled Sarah over to his plate steel drum and demonstrated a few simple notes for her copy. Edd wouldn't admit it out loud, but he secretly hoped that Sarah would want to play his plate steel drum so that he would be able to play anything else. He would literally rather play anything else. His parents had made him learn the damnable instrument and he learned quickly how to play in hopes he would get to see them more at recitals. It didn't work out quite as he had hoped and his parents were usually absent from any of his performances, as a result, he grew to resent the contraption that he wasted so much time on.

Unfortunately, Sarah didn't take to the plate steel drum. While she enjoyed getting to sit beside Edd and play with him, she found the instrument boring and wanted to try something else. She soon went through Nazz's tuba and violin, Plank's banjo, Rolf's accordion, and his bagpipes he had at home, Jimmy's xylophone, Kevin's drums, and Ed's sax as well as his flute and comb harmonica he had at home. To think her brother was actually good at three instruments, she felt even worse when she had finished. She didn't like any of them and she was horrible at all of them.

Determined not to let her fail, Edd ran off to the junkyard and crafted some homemade instruments for her to try. He made an acoustic guitar, a harp, maracas, a tambourine, and a ukulele. Sarah disliked all of them. After saying no to the ukulele, Edd tried it out himself as he tried to convince Eddy that he wasn't half bad with it and maybe he could play it instead.

“No way, sockhead, you're too good on those plate steel drums.” Edd slumped and walked away. 

“You really hate that thing, don't ya?” Kevin asked him. Edd nodded. “Maybe we can practice something together, for, you know, next time?” Edd looked up, a smile coming back to his face.

“I'd like that, Kevin.”

Eddy gave Sarah a contemplating look as she sulked over not being able to find an instrument she was comfortable playing. “I have an idea,” he announced then turned and ran into his house.

A few short moments later he came back with two large cases. He ran an extension cord from the outside outlet at the side of Jimmy's house to the stage and set up a bright red electric guitar and amp. Sarah looked at it with wide eyes as Eddy handed it to her.

“Whoa, I didn't know you had something this cool.” Kevin gushed as he watched Sarah pluck at the strings, a smile on her face as she listened to the sound it made.

“It belonged to my brother. Not like I want it around anymore.” He turned to Sarah. “If you like it you can keep it.”

“Yes! I love it! This is so cool!” She slams her hand down across the strings with a huge grin on her face.

“Now that we got that sorted, let's play!” Eddy led everyone back to the stage.

The kids then all set up their instruments together and got ready to finally play together as a band. Eddy gave them a countdown and they all started playing. 

And they sucked.

Each kid just played whatever song came to mind with no cohesion or chemistry whatsoever. They quickly stopped and just all laughed at themselves. They really had no idea what they were doing.

“Maybe if we start with the percussion and slowly come in together we'll make something a bit more musical?” Edd offered. When he received consent from the group he gestured for Kevin to start.

Kevin gave them a beat, which Edd then added to. One-by-one, Edd nodded to each of the others to come in, and slowly they found their way into the music and they were able to jam for a while, just seeing what happened. Sarah had some trouble keeping up as she was still learning the notes and how to play with her instrument, but she was a quick learner. Everyone offered her tips as they went on.

"Well, we're not going to win any awards in the near future, but I think we're getting somewhere,” Edd commented as the group continued playing into the evening.


	10. A Day At The Creek

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The culvasac kids enjoy a fun day at the creek

It's the hottest day of the summer, which means the kids are going to the creek. After breakfast, the kids all met up at the top of the lane so they could walk down together.

In past years, the Eds had always had a hard time getting a good spot at the creek. There was one spot that was the most coveted, right below the cliff where there was a natural shade right by the water. It was perfect, but every year the Eds always found themselves exiled to the rocky area on the far end.

This year, the kids all promised to make room so no one would have to deal with the rocky area, but so far no one has dared bring up the coveted spot yet.

Remembering the absolute horror of last year, and the intense sunburn he suffered, Edd triple checked to make sure he packed enough suntan lotion in his beach bag. He also had a beach umbrella that he asked Ed to carry so he would be extra protected. Edd burned so easily and he was determined not to have a repeat of last year where the Eds spent their whole day at the beach desperately trying to trick Kevin out of his shady spot.

The group approached the cheek and when the coveted shady spot was in sight the kids all took off in a frenzy for it. Since he had his umbrella, Edd didn't concern himself with racing to the spot. He knew he would never have a chance racing the crowd there, so he let the others run on ahead as he calmly caught up to Ed and Eddy and set up beside them. He put down a blanket first and made sure it was nice and smooth the sand, before putting his towel on top, protected from the dirty sand by the blanket.

Kevin got the shady spot again, it was a wonder anyone else ever tried, he was the fastest so no one else in the culvasac could beat him in a race. The Ed and Eddy were close behind him through and ended up taking the spot beside him while Nazz set up on their other side.

After dropping their stuff off on the shore, the kids quickly set off to play. Kevin had brought a volleyball net and ball which most of the group were gearing up to play. Edd declined, noting that it would cause the teams to be uneven. Really he just knew he'd be no good at the game and decided it would be much more relaxing to just wade around in the shallow water. Sarah and Jimmy stayed on the shore to build sandcastles.

The game goes on for quite a while. Edd watches as Kevin's team takes another point, he has Rolf and Jonny on his team against Eddy, Ed, and Nazz. The points are pretty close, but Kevin is very competitive and is in his element with any kind of sport so he's able to get his team to play the best that they can.

Edd thought back to when he and the others all ended up having to join the football team. Normally Edd would never dream of joining, but the regular team was all out sick. Kevin, being the only one who didn't come down with food poisoning from those disgusting gas station burritos because he knew better than to eat one, was so upset about his team not getting a chance to play the next game. Edd assumed it would be a less intensive game since none of the players were actual football players, but he was wrong. Kevin actually pushed him the hardest out of everyone. At the time, Edd was a bit bitter about it. He came to help and Kevin seemed intent on making the experience as difficult as possible for him. However, thinking back he actually cherished the memory. It felt good to be able to score that goal, even if it didn't mean anything in the end. They still lost. Despite Kevin's coaching, they weren't a very good team and their opponents were just too strong.

Edd looked back, Kevin's team scored another point. His team was definitely going to end up winning, but Ed, Eddy, and Nazz were giving him a good game and he was enjoying it. Taking a quick look up at the position of the sun, Edd realized it was time to put on another coat of suntan lotion. He put one on before he left the house this morning, but he would need to layer it on a few times throughout the day to adequately protect himself from the sun's harmful UV rays.

As Edd makes his way out of the water, he hears the call to duck. Acting more on reflex, years of having things thrown at you will do that, he crouches down as a volleyball comes full speed right over his head. Ed had tried spiking the ball and aimed it in very much the wrong direction.

The ball crashes into the ground right where Edd's beach bag is, ricocheted upwards into the umbrella, the beach bag getting thrown up with it due to the impact, causing the umbrella to get ripped out of the ground and bounding off over the cliff where it can't be reached.

“My shade!” Edd runs forward to where he had his stuff as if wanting it all to come back bad enough will make it all come back. “My suntan lotion!”

“Way to go, Ed, you lost the ball,” Eddy complains as the kids start to take down the volleyball net. No use for it now and it'll only get in the way of their other games.

Edd looks back up at the sky, feels the heat from the sun bearing down on him.

“Without my umbrella and sun-tan lotion, it's only a matter of time before I start to burn.” He begins to panic.

“Hey, man, just go over to the shade.” Kevin points over to where he has his stuff set up in the shade of the cliff.

“Thank you, Kevin. You are a lifesaver.” Edd grabs his blanket and towel, the other things that didn't end up over the cliff, and almost dives into the shade to get out of the sun.

With the volleyball game over, the kids all separate into their own games. Jonny drifts about on the water, Plank safe and dry on the shore where Jonny occasionally calls out to him to watch him do a trick. Ed and Rolf challenge each other to make the biggest splashes and jump off one part of the cliff one after another. Nazz and Eddy end up having a splash fight in the shallow water.

Kevin comes to sit beside Edd.

“I have some extra sun-tan lotion if you want.” He gestures to his bag and Edd quickly nods in acceptance. Kevin tosses him the lotion and lays down on his own towel.

After a moment, Kevin peeked his eye over to see Edd struggling to get the lotion onto his back.

“Hey, let me help you with that.” Kevin moves to get behind Edd and grabs the sun-tan lotion out of his hand. Edd freezes.

Wait, what is happening right now? He thinks as he's pretty sure his brain just officially broke. Then he feels Kevin's hand on his back. Edd feels his face burn red, but this time it's not from the sun. Edd clenches his hands and focuses really REALLY hard on not completely freaking out. He just has to wait a short moment and then it will be over. He only needs to survive this for a short while. Finally, he feels Kevin's hand move off his back. For a moment he wishes Kevin would put his hand back, but shakes the thought out of his head.

This has been the greatest summer Edd has ever had, and he certainly doesn't want to ruin his newfound friendship with Kevin for these feelings he is so sure would be at least unrequited, if not violently rejected.

But Kevin was now back on his own towel and applying the sun-tan lotion to himself. Kevin glances up at Edd.

“Whoa, you weren't kidding about burning, were ya. Better get some of that on your face.” Kevin reaches out and drops a dollop of sun-tan lotion into Edd's hand for him.

When Edd is done and has finally composed himself, Kevin turns back to Edd.

“Hey, you mind helping me with my back.” Edd freezes once again.

Good lord, I am being tested this day, Edd thinks to himself and he ducks his red face behind Kevin and carefully applies the lotion to Kevin's back. It takes all of his strength not to let his handshake. Edd applies the lotion as quickly as he can and tries to focus on anything ANYTHING else.

Once the lotion applied, safely put away and Edd had once again calmed his burning red face, he laid down on his town. Kevin laying down beside him on his, red hat pulled down over his face to keep the sun out while he relaxed, an unseen red flush on his hidden cheeks. Edd looked back up at the position of the sun and did the math in his head. Assuming they all stayed at the creek until evening, Edd would need to apply sunscreen at least two more times. Have mercy, he thought with another flush rising to his face.


	11. Summer's End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The kids plan a big event for the end of summer. Jimmy makes an announcement and Edd considers what to do next.

Summer is almost over and the culvasac kids want to finish it off in style. Nazz decides they should throw a party, but it's gotta be big. Bigger than any party they have ever had before. Next year most of the kids will be joining high school. Only Sarah and Jimmy will be left behind in junior high. They were initially a little bumped that they would be the only two left of the group in their school, but then thought it would be a great opportunity for them. Sarah and Jimmy would get to run the joint as the most fashionable popular kids in school. They already started planning out outfits that they would wear that was sure to get everybody talking.

While brainstorming ideas for the party, Eddy comes up with the idea for The Culvasac Carnival. They'll have rides, games, food stalls, and a grand performance from the culvasac's band at the end of the day. Nazz loves the idea and soon all the kids are on board to help put it together. 

Eddy and Nazz give everyone their jobs for the project. Sarah and Jimmy are on food detail. They decide to make trays of all sorts of sandwiches, bring several types of juice and sodas, and Jimmy has a few cake recipes he's been dying to try out.

Rolf and Ed are on construction. They are going to need a stage and booths for the games and tables for the food. The two of them work well together and quickly drag out the lumber and materials needed and get to work.

Edd and Kevin will need to build the rides since they're both good with mechanics. The plan is to have a spinning cups ride, a mini-coaster, and a water-slide. At least. If they come up with more ideas then just run it past Eddy and Nazz first. 

Jonny and Plank will put their restless energy to use by helping the others find specific materials in the junkyard that they need. Jonny does end up spending a lot of time in the junkyard, so he has a strangely savant ability to track down exactly what is needed.

Meanwhile, Eddy and Nazz will get the decorations and lights in order and make sure everything is running smoothly. After a whole summer of everyone coming together, they start making great time getting this latest and grandest project started.

“This is gonna be so cool,” Kevin said as he held up the base of the spinning cups ride so that Edd could put the last touches on some of the welding.

“It is certainly going to be quite entertaining.”

“Nazz throws some really good parties, but this is definitely going to be epic.”

“She does seem to have a talent for creating energetic social events.”

“Yeah, you never really got to most of them before this summer. This summer's been the best though, so I'd say you've definitely made up for all the parties you've missed.”

“It has been a wonderful summer.”

“Did you ever go to many parties before?”

“Not really. Well, there was last year's sprinkler party, but, I already told you all about that one.”

“Yeah,” Kevin answered with a laugh.

“And there was,” Edd suppressed a shiver at the memory, “Jonny's Arbor Day Never-Ending Party.”

“I've never been to that one. I mean, it's Jonny, I figured it would be super weird and boring so I never went when he invited me.”

“No one did it seemed until Ed, Eddy, and myself decided to accept his invitation. A horrible decision, really.”

“Was it that bad?” Edd finished the welding and pulled himself out from under the ride so Kevin could let it down. He lifted the welding mask he wore and removed his gloves.

“Absolutely horrendous. Not as bad as the embarrassment of the sprinkler party, mind you, but it was a nightmare none-the-less.” Edd went on to describe the party. How they slowly realized that no one else was coming, the uncomfortable silence while they listened to Plank's jokes, making a wish with the Arbor Day Acorn, Ed and Plank wishing the party would never end and then getting tied up with the daisy chain rope so that it wouldn't. Ed and Jonny ended up boarding up the house and Eddy and Edd had to wait until they fell asleep to cut their way through the daisy chain with plastic knives in order to leave. They dragged Ed's body back to his house and tried to forget the whole night.

Kevin laughed along with Edd as he recounted the story while they worked. A few times Kevin dipped his head away to try to hide the blush that he could feel creeping onto his face when he watched Edd laughing. He wasn't quite sure what to make of it. He knew he liked hanging out with Edd. He really liked hanging out with him. If he could, he'd be happy just spending all day hangout on the couch watching dorky documentaries and laughing at his occasional snarky comments about how the narrator clearly was misinformed on some specific detail.

All his life, Kevin never really had someone he would call a best friend. There was Nazz, and he did really enjoy hanging out with her, but she never really got him. And then there was the whole thing where they were kind of almost a couple for a while and that just made things awkward for him for a little while. He had gotten over it, and they were back to just being really good friends.

Then there was Rolf, he was the only other guy his age that he really could hang out within the culvasac, but Kevin didn't really understand him half the time with all his old-country customs. Jonny was too weird. Jimmy was always hanging out with Sarah and they had literally nothing in common with each other. He was cool with Ed and Eddy now, but for years they were at odds with each other. He was with odds against Edd too, but every now and again, even with all the scam and tricks the Eds would pull, Kevin didn't mind him too much. Now that they actually got the chance to be friends with Edd he realized how much they had in common and how much fun it could be to hang out with someone he could really talk to.

Only, friends didn't seem like the right word to him. He didn't dwell on the thought too much before, but recently he found himself heating up when he looked at him. Kevin started smiling at all these little things he would do, even things he used to tease him about before, like not being able to throw a basketball or his obsessive need to clean his seat before he sat down.

Maybe this is just the way it is with a best friend, he thought, but something didn't quite feel right with that either. Eventually, he shook off his thoughts and just put all his focus on helping Edd finish the rides for the carnival.

Finally, everything was built and ready. Eddy and Nazz acted as hosts for The Culvasac Carnival and gave a small speech about how this is going to be the best day ever and how excited they are to finally be joining high school with a small nod to Sarah and Jimmy cheering them on for how they are going to rock the junior high.

The kids ran to the rides, Kevin and Edd mostly running the spinning cups and mini-coaster for the other kids. They eventually dragged either Eddy or Nazz over to take over the controls so they could ride themselves which means that Kevin and Edd mostly got to ride together, which neither of them were complaining about. Especially when the momentum of the rides would push them up against each other while they tried to hide their blushing faces.

Taking turns acting as operators for the games and players, the kids got to play a little bit of everything. There was dart throwing and fishing games, pin the tail on the goat which Rolf brought, water canon, and shooting games as well.

Sarah and Jimmy pulled out huge trays of food that everyone just gorged themselves on, then when they brought out the cakes and everyone damn near burst from the deliciousness of it all. For a while, they all sat around the table chatting away while they digested before realizing it was getting close to time for their show.

Each of the kids ran off home to get dressed. They had decided it would add to the fun to dress up like a proper band. Of course, they didn't coordinate outfits or anything so they each had their own distinctive style.

Eddy was dressed like a disco star. Nazz was all sparkle and glitter with her bedazzled jean jacket and very 90's pink make-up and teased hair. Rolf was dressed in a pair of white overalls which were apparently the traditional garments for a musician in his home country, it was paired with a large straw hat. Jonny wore a black faux-leather jacket with tassels and put black eye-shadow on both his and Plank's eyes and as lines across their cheeks. Edd wore a clean black tux, the recital outfit his parents had bought him. Kevin tied a plaid jacket around his waist but didn't add or remove anything else from what he usually wore. Sarah came out in full metal head attire, her hair teased up with a headband, black make-up around her eyes, on her lips, and down her face, her whole outfit a mix of black and red. 

Just as everyone was setting up their instrument to play for the cardboard cut-out audience they had made for the event, Sarah got everyone's attention.

“Alright everyone, listen up! Jimmy has something he wants to announce so make sure you PAY ATTENTION!” She then leaned behind the curtain of the stage to let Jimmy know to get started. Everyone shrugged as they waited. It was pretty typical of Jimmy to want the limelight, but it was harmless so they let him have his fun.

The curtain opens and reveals Jimmy, he is wearing a glittery white dress and has his hair tied back in a ponytail. 

“All my life,” he begins, “I never really felt like one of the boys.” He moved around the stage like a nervous ballerina as he recounted his life story, gentle music playing from a boombox Sarah held at the side of the stage. “So today, I announce to all of you, that Jimmy is not the little boy you know, he is-” a banner drops from above him as he reaches behind the curtain to grab another piece of fabric. He reads the sign out loud as he ties a yellow, white, purple, and black striped flag around his shoulders like a cape, “Non-Binary!”

Edd is beside himself when Jimmy finishes. The flag! The announcement! He has tears in his eyes as he applauds him.

“Bravo, Jimmy!” Edd approaches Jimmy on the stage. “I am so proud of you! Which pronouns would you prefer us to use?”

“All pronouns are fine, Double Dee!” Jimmy lights up with a smile. He has always been the type to run headfirst into the spotlight, but he was really nervous. There have been plenty of times where his showmanship led to embarrassment in the past, but he was glad to have received such a positive response to his announcement. The others all quickly came around him offering their congratulations and complimenting his look. 

“Yeah, good for you Jimmy,” Kevin started with a curious look on his face, “but what does it mean?”

“Rolf is also confused about the showy-show.” Edd, ever eager to inform, is about to explain when Sarah interjects.

“Jimmy is non-binary, which means they aren't specifically male or female, sometimes they might lean more feminine, sometimes more masculine, or sometimes might present as more androgynous. You can use any pronouns: he/him, she/her, they/them, or whatever else to speak about Jimmy. You don't got a problem with that, do you?” Sarah ended her explanation by giving Kevin and Rolf the stink eye.

“No, not at all.” Kevin shrugged and looked at Jimmy. “Whatever you want, fluffy.”

“Rolf has no problem with Bo-” he stopped himself from saying his usual “Boy-Jimmy” nickname and gave a thoughtful pause, “with Person-Jimmy. They can do their gender however it pleases them.”

“Hooray, thank you, everyone!” Jimmy jumped for joy. “Now, let's get this show started, shall we!” And they led the way onto the stage. Everyone picked up their instruments. Eddy ran out to the front of the stage and announced the band to their silent audience.

The group had met up to play a few times before, but they still didn't have any real structure as a band. As per their habit, Kevin started them off and the kids all came in one-by-one. This time they had about two almost-songs that they would play, and Eddy had started playing around with some lyrics which he belted out between triangle chimes. 

Edd had finally convinced the group to let him play a new instrument and had got himself a ukulele. It was the cheapest instrument he could find since he had to buy it himself since his parents would want to know why he didn't want to play the plate steel drum anymore. He still didn't have the heart to tell them he hated it. 

Sarah slid across the stage at one point with her guitar for a killer solo. She was quickly becoming a star with the instrument and practiced with it every chance she got. Most of the others let her take the lead on the songs.

After the performance, the kids all sat around chatting at the table as they snacked some more on the cakes Sarah and Jimmy made. On the way over to the table, Edd grabbed hold of Eddy and Ed and pulled them behind the spinning cups ride to speak with them.

“What's this about? We're missing out on the cake!” Eddy complained as Ed ran in place ready to rush to the table any minute.

“I just wanted to talk to you two about something. It will only take a moment.”

“So, spit it out already.” Eddy peeked around the corner and say Jonny taking a slice of the delicious chocolate fudge cake with chocolate icing topped with chocolate chips.

“Well, after seeing Jimmy's, um, performance earlier and how well his coming out was received, I've decided to come out to the rest of the culvasac myself.”

“About time, sockhead, come on, let's go tell them!” Eddy grabs Edd's wrist and starts to run towards the others.

“Yay! Edd is going to have a party!” Ed cheers as he follows.

“No! Eddy, stop!” Edd pulls his wrist back and ducks behind the ride so he's sure the group can't see him, even though they're all busy reveling in the good mood of the day and haven't noticed the Eds off to the side just yet. 

“What's the big deal?”

“Jimmy just came out, I don't want to make this about me. Let him have his day. Besides, I-” Edd paused, “I don't think I'm brave enough to come out like Jimmy did. Having everyone's attention on me like that is just too much to even think about. I'll just tell them all one-by-one, but I'll let you know when I tell someone, okay.”

“Yeah, okay. Now let's go back to the others, I want another slice of that chocolate cake before it's gone.”

“Too late, Eddy.” Ed drops the half of leftover chocolate cake into his mouth.

“AH! Ed!” Eddy tries to pry Ed's mouth open, hoping against logic that there will still be an intact slice somewhere between his teeth and his stomach.

The Eds go back to the group. Nazz saved a slice of the chocolate cake for Eddy and gives it to him, and the group relaxes together after a grand day.

Just as everyone is cleaning up and getting ready to go home for the evening. Edd gets everyone's attention.

“Just to remind everyone, next week starts the next school year. So please be sure to get all your new school supplies ready before then. We don't want a repeat of last year. It took me ages to get the mud stains out of the carpet.” He ended with a snarky tone as the others, reminded of their savagery when they ransacked Edd's supplies closet last year, fidgeted bashfully.

Each promised that there would be no repeat of that theft and even said they'd pick up some supplies for Edd to make up for it, but he declined the offer as he already had stocked more than enough supplies to last the year.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> to be continued...


End file.
